The Name is Naruto Namikaze, dattebayo!
by Scathach24
Summary: Her blond hair whips around when she's mad. Six whisker marks reside on her cheeks, and she's got a thing for the color orange. She's pretty hyper and kinda ramen obsessed, but she never backs down and never goes back on her word. Her name is Naruto Namikaze and one day she's going to be a Hokage. Fem!Naruto Alive!Minato story set in RANDOM ONE-SHOTS. A lot of fluff. A few OCs.
1. Fangirling-your doing it wrong

A few things!

**1. Naruto is a girl. They thought she was going to be a boy when they chose the name. After Kushina died Minato didn't have the heart to change it, so she stayed Naruto.**

**2. Minato is alive.**

**3. Obito and Rin are alive**

**4. Obito almost died when he was thirteen. He ended up being crushed by a bunch of rocks after a fight. He asked Rin to give his eye to Kakashi because he thought he would really die. The damage wasn't as bad as it was in canon. Iwa captured him shortly after that and he was interrogated by them for a couple of months until Minato found out he was alive. Team Yondaime (and a certain lovable wood release user) managed to save him. **

**5. the Uchiha's disowned Obito after he gave on of his eyes to Kakashi.**

**6. Itachi never killed the clan. He did however get tired of all the politics and stuff and he now travels. He's kinda like a second Jiraiya. He travels around but he reports important info the the village.**

**7. Sasuke and Naruto are good friends. **

**8. I don't know if this story will have Naruto paired with anyone yet. This is subject to change though.**** (I'm leaning toward Itachi)**

**9. There might be a tiny bit of Ino/OC in there somewhere. **

**Thank you. Onto the fic!**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Naruto sat next to Sasuke Uchiha on one of the benches at the edge of the school yard. They'd been friends for years. It helped that she was one of the few girls that wasn't obsessed with him.

"How's the training with Obito-nii going?" Naruto asked swinging her legs and adjusting the goggles on her head. Even at eleven she was still shorter than a lot of her peers.

"It's pretty good. Father isn't happy about me interacting with Obito, but he allows it because Itachi's not there." Sasuke said quietly. " Father just can't get passed the fact he gave up one of his eyes to someone who wasn't an Uchiha. I wouldn't say this to his face but I admire Obito and his views."

"He's a great man" Naruto agreed. She uncapped Sasuke's water bottle and took a swig before setting it back down.

Sasuke frowned and wiped the rim of the bottle with his sleeve "You can be really gross you know."

"Shut up, pansy" she teased sticking her tongue out at him. She sensed a group of familiar people heading there way. The blond kunoichi's eyes magnified "Holy crap..."

"Do we run?" Sasuke asked nervously.

"They've seen us by now so that won't work, dattebayo"

"SASUKE-KUN!"

The swarm of fangirls loomed ominously over them. Naruto felt a vein pop on her head. "Aw piss off you stalkers"

"You think your so cool just cuz your Yondaime-sama's daughter" A pink haired girl she recognised as Sakura said haughtily. "You should leave this alone"

"Seriously."

"I find it pathetic how you guys can throw yourself at him the way you do and say it's love." Naruto clicked her tongue. "This is why people think so little of kunoichi"

Sasuke almost laughed.

"As if Sasuke would ever go for a girl like you!" Sakura yelled.

"Clearly you don't know him all that well, Sakura-chan" Naruto tossed some of her hair over her shoulder. "Seems to me your more interested in the exterior than anything else."

"No!" Ino snapped back. "Sasuke-kun is a cool and elite warrior. He's brilliant and amazing and-"

"Ya know, I'm kinda surprised your parents haven't tied you to a chair and yelled all the many reason's why he would be a horrible boy friend"

"Hey!"

"Not now Sasuke, dattebayo. I'm on a roll" Naruto said with a wave of her hand. "Maybe if you could spend less time flirting and making idiot's of yourselves you could train more and become stronger and productive. It's not that difficult of a concept to grasp."

Sakura scoffed "I bet you just want Sasuke-kun all to yourself..."

"Funny you would say that..." Naruto grabbed Sasuke's face and kissed him full on the mouth.

There was screaming and crying. So much that you'd think someone died. I guess in a way something did die that day. The foolish notion that someone else would be Sasuke Uchiha's first kiss grabbed him and telleported to the roof of the school building.

"What the hell was that?!" Sasuke yelled.

"That was me saving your ass" She laughed. "Did you want the freaks to have their way with you?"

"B-but-"

"Not like I meant anything." Naruto stood on the edge of the rooftop. "I gotta go. Dad's showing me some new techniques."

Sasuke blinked.

She jumped off the roof and went in the direction of the Namikaze estate.

"The hell just happened?" Sasuke muttered sitting down.

"Beat's me" Obito said casually from behind him.

"You saw everything didn't you?"

"Yep" he took a seat next to his cousin. "You know Naruto is practically family to me?"

"Of coarse. She calls you nii-san" Sasuke said not really knowing where this was headed.

"That means if you were to do anything to hurt her, I would consider it my divine right to castrate you with a dull knife" For some reason the lollipop in his mouth only made him seem scarrier. The killing intent rolling off his body wasn't helping either. "Understood?"

"It's not like that, Obito." Sasuke informed him scooting slightly to the side. "I love her, just not like that."

Obito nodded. He knew how hard it had been on Sasuke when his older brother had left Konoha to travel four years ago. He would write letters and visit when he could, but that was hardly enough. Naruto was able to bring sunlight into his dark depressing little world. Be it in the form of a sparring match or a hand to hold. She wouldn't let him suffer alone. And for that he was grateful.

"Besides even if that were the case I would have competition." Sasuke deadpanned.

"..."Obito

"..."Sasuke

"..."Obito

"..."Sasuke

"...I want names..."


	2. team 7

"Team seven will be: Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Namikaze, and Umehito Suzuki. It will be led by Kakashi Hatake." Naruto shrieked with joy and glomped the crap out of the brooding Uchiha as soon as Iruka finished that sentence.

Now they sat in the empty room waiting for their Jonin sensei. Sasuke was reading and Naruto was standing on a chair near the door. Umehito sat quietly.

Naruto had known Umehito for two years, since his family defected Kirigakure and moved to Konoha. They talked occasionally but didn't really know each other.

Umehito was a tall skinny kid. His dark gray hair was longer than her's and he kept it in a long ponytail with two strands framing his tanned face. His eyes were light green and usually wide open, almost as if he were perpetually surprised. Not that he opened his mouth often but if he did you could see that his teeth ended in points.

"What are you doing?" Umehito asked as his blond teammate wedged an eraser in the slightly opened door. "He might be here any minute! Do you want to get killed?"

"Eh, Nii-san won't be here for a while." Naruto jumped down and put the chair back. "He's always late, dattebayo. This is my way of getting back at him for his tardiness."

Sasuke looked up from his book. "Do you really think he'll fall for that? He is a jonin after all."

"We'll just have to wait and see, dattebayo."

Umehito sweat-dropped.

Over an hour later the door opened and the eraser landed on Kakashi's head.

"HA!" Naruto yelled victoriously in Sasuke's direction. She turned on her brother figure with a glare. Her hair whipped around her head, just like her mothers used to. "Your late"

"Yes, yes. You see there was this cat stuck in a tree-"

"Save it" She growled, killing intent rolling off her body in waves.

"you wouldn't hurt your Aniki would you?"

Insert glare that could have (and has) made lesser ninja cry.

"Well let's head to the roof" he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto grabbed Sasuke's and Umehito's hands before following suit.

"Let's start with ponytail, as he's the only one of you I've never met." Kakashi's visible eye landed on Umehito. "please inform us of your name, like's, dislike's, dreams, and hobbies."

"How about you first." Naruto chirped. "Your the sensei now, dattebayo"

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you my likes and dislikes… My dreams for the future… Hmm… As for my hobbies… I have lots of hobbies…" He eye smiled.

"He likes eggplant, training, and Icha Icha. Dislikes idiots, candy, and people who don't like Icha Icha. He refers to them as either 'haters' or 'unaware of great litterateur.' His dream is more of an ambition. It's to protect people important to him. His hobbies are reading smut and missions." Naruto grinned at him. "That about right, dattebayo?"

"It is not smut, but yes." Kakashi looked back at Umehito. "when your ready"

"My name is Umehito Suzuki. I like water, swimming, being under the moon, and working on improving myself. I dislike when the weather gets to hot, being in debt, and the Mizukage Yagura. My dream is to be a great medical ninja and to preserve life instead of taking it. My hobbies are swimming, reading, chakra training, and cooking."

"You next, Naruto"

"I'm Naruto Namikaze, dattebayo. I like ramen, Rin-nee, Obito-nii, and Kakashi-nii. Training with my dad and the color orange. I dislike bastard, kiss-ups, the three minutes that it takes to prepare instant ramen, and fangirls. I really hate fangirls. My dream is to surpass my father and become the Hokage. My hobbies are pranks, watering plants, and training."

"You next" Kakashi said to Sasuke.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I like training, tomatoes, Nii-san, and walks. I dislike traitors, fangirls, and foods that are too sweet. My dream is to become a great ninja and serve the Hokage as well as the village . My hobbies are training, taking walks, and reading."

Kakashi nodded. "I will see you three tomorrow at five AM at training ground seven. Also don't eat breakfast unless you want to puke. Bye!"

Kakashi vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I'm heading home" Sasuke said standing up and stretching. "Itachi has to go back tonight."

"See you later, dattebayo. Tell your brother I said hi" Naruto waved as Sasuke headed toward the staircase.

Umehito stood up too. "Bye."

"Nope" Naruto stood up and wove her arm through his. "I'm kidnapping you, dattebayo. I've known Kakashi-nii since I was born and Sasuke is one of my best friends. Your the only one on team seven who I should know better."

"But we just did introductions..." Umehito protested as Naruto dragged him off toward the staircase.

"Dude, when we start on missions my life is going to be in your hands, just like yours will be in mine. I would like to know more than just your hobbies"

"...uh..."

"Excellent, dattebayo"


	3. A proud father

I had this idea for a while and I'm glad I got to write it out. It's a little more serious than the previous ones, but I think it's my favorite so far.

I was thinking what the invasion of Pein would be like for Minato. I can imagine it would be difficult even if he weren't the Hokage. Seriously though, his last living family member dealing with a guy capable of destroying everything in the Leaf. That would give me some serious anxiety. I know there is a pretty big time skip, so I'd like to remind you that they are one shots.

...

The village was pretty much reduced to a crater. The only thing that made it even seem like the Hidden Leaf was the Hokage monument.

Minato coughed up a mouthful of blood. He wasn't doing well as you could have guessed. He'd been thrown around and had also been hit heavily with a chunk of a wall. He suspected broken bones and chakra depletion.

He happy that Naruto was out of the village at the moment. She'd been training with the Toads on mount Myoboko. He knew that's what the Akatsuki were after. The kyuubi he'd allowed to be sealed inside of her, specifically.

If they got a hold of her, they would forcibly remove the kyuubi, killing her in the process. Like hell that was going to happen. He'd lost one family member thanks to the Akatsuki and he'd be damned if he lost his daughter too.

Minato didn't even want to think about the number of casualties. Yet the crazy guy with the pierced face continued to preach about peace.

"Mount Myoboko" he said suddenly. "It would seem as though Naruto's not here"

"How did you know?!" Obito barked at him.

He didn't respond to that, instead he looked directly at them "You think you're the only ones who matter. You think you can put off death. But that peace made you foolish and thoughtless. If you kill someone, someone else will kill you… this hatred binds us together. I want you to feel pain, to think about pain, to accept pain, to know pain."

He rose into the air.

"What is he doing?" Obito questioned.

"Those who don't know Pain can never experience true peace!" Pein proclaimed, with his arms raised.

There was a blinding flash of light. Then a wave of debris worked it's way through the entire village leaving nothing in its wake.

Then came an eruption of smoke. When it cleared it revealed Naruto. She was standing on top of a giant toad with her arms folded over her chest. Her eye's bore the tell tale signs of sage mode and she wore a long red cloak with spikes on the edges that billowed in the wind.

She looked around for a second, slightly confused by what she was seeing. Her eyes landed on the Hokage moment and for a moment she felt her heart brake. Her beautiful village reduced to this. The place she took her first steps and her parents fell in love. Gone. To her credit she kept the same steely expression.

As Pein walked foreward he said in a monotone "Good now I don't have to hunt you down"

Naruto scowled as the other five dropped into place next to Pein.

Then Minato jumped in front of the toads. "I am the Yondaime Hokage. What you have done here is unforgivable! Now I'm going to settle this"

"It seems you know a little about pain. However you are not the one I seek."

One of the pains launched itself at Minato. His chakra was depleted and he was injured so it likely would have reached him had Naruto not jumped down and smashed it into unrecognizable bits.

"There is no need for the Leaf's Hokage to bother himself with the likes of them" Naruto stated, not even turning around. "I got this."

"...Naruto..." Minato looked up at his daughter.

"So you are Naruto Namikaze."

"That's it!" Naruto barked. "Let's settle this!"

The Peins fell into formation.

"Gamakichi!" Naruto called. An orange toad landed beside her. She looked at him. "Please take my dad somewhere safe, okay?"

"Gotcha" The toad responded.

"I can handle this dad. Keep the rest of the village out of this, okay. I can do this but it will be harder if I have to worry about the others" Naruto offered Minato a tiny smile. Then her face fell. "I probably shouldn't bring this up right now, but now that I've mastered Nature Energy I can sense everyone's chakra. Are Sasuke and Kakashi-nii on a mission away from the village...?"

There was silence between the father and daughter.

"Oh...I see" Naruto suddenly turned and hugged Minato tightly, but only for a second. "I love you daddy"

"I love you too, Naruto" He kissed her head and set a small white slug in her hand. "let her hide in your clothes okay? She's one of Tsunade-sama's Katsuyu clones."

Naruto nodded and then Gamakichi picked him up and vanished.

He passed out for a moment and when he opened his eyes he was being gently set against a wall in front of Rin. Her eyes widened when she saw him "Sensei!"

"Kakashi and Sasuke didn't make it did they?" Minato heard himself ask.

Naruto's teammate, Umehito looked down. Rin slowly pointed behind a wall. You could see two pairs of feet from there. "They were too far gone and we couldn't treat them...I-I couldn't look at them like that, s-so I had Umehito..."

It was Obito who walked behind the wall. Slowly. As if in a trance. Minato could hear his sobs from were he was laying as soon as he was out of sight. Heartbroken and pained sounds, as Obito wept for his best friend and the boy he treated like a little brother.

As soon as he recovered Obito freed people from rubble, helped the others lay out the dead, and cried silently the entire time.

Rin and Umehito spent the next hour patching Minato up. At least enough that he wouldn't die.

"Hokage-sama" Minato turned and saw an ANBU crouch next to him. "We have word that Naruto-sama has defeated all six Pein's but has left the village"

"Why?" He wondered out loud.

"We're not sure, si-"

Suddenly green lights flew around the village. People got defensive at first, thinking it was another attempt to harm them. Then Minato watched as the green light struck a dead chunin that Obito had just pulled out from under a fallen board.

When the light faded, the man sat up. Rin turned white, Umehito screamed, and Obito's jaw dropped.

Shikaku Nara smirked and folded his arms over his chest. "It would seem that Naruto has come to an understanding with Pein."

Kakashi stepped up next to them. "I didn't miss anything interesting?"

"Don't you dare joke about that!" Rin shrieked as she hugged him, and then proceed to cry her eyes out and inspect him for injuries simultaniously. Girls are weird...

Obito walked up to Kakashi when Rin was finished with him. He smiled even though tears were still running down his face. "I guess I know how you must have felt when I got crushed under those fricken rocks."

"But I wasn't stupid enough to give anyone my eye, Obito" Kakashi said quietly.

"Jerk" Obito said as the two shinobi exchanged a hug.

"So I saw Sasuke" Umehito said quietly. "He's heading into the woods to make sure Naruto gets back safe"

"How about we meet her at the gate's Sensei?" Obito said with a smile. He put Minato's arm over his shoulder and helped him walk toward the entrance.

They arrived along with most of the village. Umehito fiddled with the edges of his chunin vest. Obito handed suckers out to a bunch of little kids. Rin smiled at this. Minato tried to keep his sanity.

Then they appeared. Sasuke was carrying Naruto on his back. She had a couple scratches and bruises, but seemed mostly okay. If anything she appeared tired, but who wouldn't be?

Over the coarse of the fight she lost her red cloak. Her usual outfit of baggy shorts and an orange jacket were intact. Her hair tie must have snapped because her hair floated around her head and shoulders all the way down to her lower back.

Her eyes got bigger as everyone began to cheer. "Sasuke wh-"

"They've been waiting for you to return" Sasuke smiled slightly over his shoulder. "I must say, you did pretty great. For an airhead I mean"

Naruto got off his back and stood next to him as she was inundated by a small wave of children, who tugged on her jacket and bombarded her with questions. Katsuyu informed her that she told the villagers everything.

"Your an idiot taking that guy on alone" Obito said smacking her upside the head. Naruto didn't even have time to react before he was hugging her. "Don't you ever scare us like that again..."

She wrapped her arms around him. "Sorry, Aniki"

"Seriously" Kakashi set his hand on her shoulder. "What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?"

"I would do it again, dattebayo"

"Coarse you would." Rin said with a small smile. "Your too stubborn not too"

"I get it from you guys." Naruto said with a smile.

"Your such a brat sometimes." Obito said as he nougied her.

"How's my dad? He's okay right?" Naruto asked pulling away from her 'siblings'.

"Ask him yourself" Minato said with a chuckle.

"Dad!" Naruto hugged him firmly but gently, in case he had injuries. "I'm so glad your okay! I saw the village and I-I thought maybe..."

The Yondaime patted his daughters back as she cried into his shoulder. "Hey, it's alright...I'm fine. Rin and Umehito were able to heal the worst of it"

He put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to meet his eyes.

"I am so proud of you, Naruto" He smiled. "I'm sure Jiraiya-sensei would be too"

"Seriously though" Umehito grinned. "I don't think anyone, could have done what you did"

Naruto just smiled at that. Her family was safe. Her friends were safe. Things like a village can be rebuilt, Material possession replaced.

But the look of sheer pride that Minato was giving her right that moment is something she'll treasure always.


	4. Let's be friends, okay?

**They are twelve again in this chapter. And finally Gaara has made an appearance in this thing!**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Naruto scowled at Gaara and slowly began to crawl her way toward him. Her forehead protector had fallen off and her hair tie broke. Blood dripped from her forehead down her nose and face.

"B-but why would you do this for anyone but yourself...?" Gaara asked horrified. It seemed like she would definitely kill him as soon as she could.

"It's almost unbearable, isn't it… the pain of being alone. Being hated. I know that feeling; I've been there, in that dark and lonely place, but there are others, other people who mean a lot to me. I care more about them than I do myself, and I won't let anyone hurt them. That's why I'll never give up. I will stop you, even if I have to kill you!"

Gaara's siblings dropped down next to their brother. Naruto continued to inch her way towards him.

"Naruto." Sasuke crouched down next to her. The blond kunoichi continued. Sasuke put his hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him. "Umehito's fine. The sand fell away. He's still unconscious but he'll be okay"

Sasuke helped Naruto to her feet. A few words were exchanged between Gaara and his siblings. Kankuro then helped Gaara up too. Honestly both of them looked like crap. It's a wonder they could stand at all.

"Wait a second, dattebayo..." Naruto said quietly. She slowly began to stumble forward.

Gaara became anxious as she approached. What if she was going to finish him, or hurt him further? Temari's hand inched toward her fan and Kankuro looked defensive. Clearly they were thinking the same thing.

"Gaara" Naruto met his eyes. "Let's be friends, okay?"

"Wha'-why?" Gaara said unable to hide his shock.

Naruto reached forward and wrapped her arms around him. Gaara stiffened. He slowly relaxed and then realized there was a wet spot forming on his uninjured shoulder. Naruto Namikaze, the girl he just tried to kill, was crying for him. "I don't think anyone should be treated like we were. I want you to know your not alone, dattebayo. Someone cares"

Temari and Kankuro watched in stunned silence. Slowly Gaara hugged her back, tears running down his face as well. To Gaara 'friend' had always just been a word. Now with a person just like him, hugging him like this and crying too, he knew he'd been wrong. It felt really good to mean something to someone. Sasuke folded his arms and smirked.

"You should head out so that wound can get treated." Naruto said when they broke the hug. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to need some medical attention myself, dattebayo"

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Thank you Naruto Namikaze." Gaara said as he wiped his eyes. "I'm glad I didn't kill you"

"Pretty happy about that myself" Naruto smiled and held out her hand. "Bye Gaara. I hope we get to see each other again on better terms"

"Likewise" Gaara nodded and slowly the two Jinchuriki shook hands. Gaara looked at his siblings. "Temari, Kankuro-"

"Yeah okay" Kankuro said, still not one hundred percent sure what just happened. Then he and Temari took Gaara and went off in the other direction.

Naruto almost fell foreward, until Sasuke caught her and arranged her on his back. Sasuke thought it was impressive that she hadn't passed out from exhaustion already. He saw her smiling out of the corner of his eye. "I hope things get better for him, ya know"

Sasuke rolled his eyes again and turned around to check on Umehito as Naruto passed out.

Meanwhile further through the forest. Gaara lifted his head slightly as his brother and sister continued to jump through the trees.

"Temari...Kankuro..." Gaara said just loud enough for them to hear. "...I'm sorry..."

His siblings exchanged a surprised look before Kankuro just said in a quiet voice "...Don't worry about it...?"

As the sand siblings continued in the direction of Suna Kankuro thought to himself that this could be the start of something better for his little brother. Naruto Namikaze had been responsible for this.

'_thanks brat_.' Kankuro thought. '_I owe you one_'


	5. Baby sitting with Team Minato

**Have some Team Minato baby fluff :D**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Hi there, Naru-chan" Rin cooed at the eight month old baby. Naruto smiled and made little babbling noises.

Minato carefully handed her to Rin. The bright orange baby bag went to Kakashi.

They had come to an arrangement when Naruto was a little under two weeks old. Minato was going through hell after losing Kushina. He was hardly sleeping at all anymore, so his students stepped up and offered to take care of Naruto from time to time so he could catch up on his rest.

Minato was hesitant at first, but he knew that he needed to be present as Hokage and as Naruto's father. He couldn't do that if he was stumbling around like a zombie. Besides he trusted his students more than anyone to look out for Naruto.

"Go get some rest, sensei" Obito said with a small smile.

"Thank you." Minato said quietly. He dropped a kiss on Naruto's head. "I'll see you later, sweetheart. I love you"

"Dada" Naruto made happy little baby noises and tugged on his hair. Minato smiled at that and then left. He was only on the other side of the house if they needed him.

"Obito, can you make Naruto a bottle? She usually gets hungry around now." Rin said as she set Naruto down on the floor. The baby was dressed in a pink and yellow onesie and began to crawl around.

"Yep" Obito gathered the formula and baby bottle and walked toward the kitchen. Kakashi sat down on the floor near Naruto.

"Come to Kakashi-nii" Kakashi encouraged with out stretched arms. Naruto began to work her way toward him with a toothless smile. "good girl, a little further...You can do it..."

"You know that most of the people who used to work in ANBU with you would probably have a stroke if they could see you now." Rin said with a smile. Naruto stumbled slightly but managed to crawl close enough that Kakashi could set her in his lap.

Kakashi adored the little girl. To be fair they all did. The masked teenager usually acted softer and more playful when around her. At some point he actually switched from porn to books on early child development.

"Probably." Kakashi shrugged. Naruto had taken his hand and began to gnaw on his index finger. "I think her teeth are going to be visible soon."

Naruto began to whimper and then cry. Rin picked her up and began to rock her gently while bouncing a little. She still cried. "I think she's hungry..."

"Baby bottle is here" Obito said cheerily.

"For once your timing is impeccable" Kakashi joked.

Rin sat down on the sofa and began to feed Naruto. Obito and Kakashi just watched. Both were thinking that Rin would be a great mother some day.

Rin glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh crap, I forgot I need to pick up a shift at the hospital. You two can watch her, can't you?"

"Yeah I guess..." Obito muttered.

"Great. Thank you so much!" Rin gave Obito a kiss on the cheek and then ran out.

Naruto was crying again five minutes later. Obito rocked and tried to soothe her but nothing seemed to work.

"She needs to be burped." Kakashi informed him, wielding his knowledge he'd gotten from books.

Obito nodded and began to pat the little girl between her shoulder blades gently. Slowly she stopped crying. "Hey I think it wor- Oh my god."

Obito's shoulder was covered in a warm white liquid. Naruto made little gurgling noises with her mouth and giggled.

Kakashi took her from Obito. "Clean yourself up. I'll watch the baby"

"Yeah okay." Obito walked out of the room. He grumbled about how he smelled like goat cheese or something.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Missy" Kakashi said with a sigh. He sat down on the floor next to Naruto, expecting her to crawl around some more.

She made little babbling noises and sat up. She reached her pudgy little arms out toward Kakashi "up...up"

Kakashi set her in his lap. Naruto gave him a big smile devoid of teeth then pulled down his mask, giggling with delight. "Very funny Naru-chan. Get a good look cause your not going to see it so easy next time, got it?"

"ba ba ba!" she said clapping her little hands.

Kakashi tugged his mask back on and Obito came back into the room wearing a new shirt.

The next six hours dragged by. Three diaper changes, two more bottles, and a very dirty burping rag later, Naruto was ready for bed. Her two surrogate brothers were ready to drop.

Minato walked in an hour or so later to find both of his students asleep on the couch with Naruto sleeping in Kakashi's arms. She was still clutching tightly to one of Obito's fingers.

He gently untangled Kakashi's arms and lifted Naruto up, careful not to wake her. Kakashi cracked one of his eyes open When he saw it was his sensei who had taken the baby he went back to sleep.

Minato chuckled softly. Clearly Kakashi hadn't the foggiest idea that he and Obito were leaning on each other. When asked later he would say he didn't wake them because they looked exhausted.

Then after he tucked Naruto into her crib he went back and covered his students in a quilt.


	6. Together as Jinchuriki

So yeah. Very end of the Kazekage rescue arc. enjoy! or not. it's up to you.

* * *

Umehito finished looking at Gaara. He stood up and shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry, Naruto..."

Said girl was shuddering with sobs. "No...This can't actually-... He's the Kazekage...He just became the Kazekage!"

"Calm yourself, Naruto Namikaze-"

Naruto cut Chiyo off with an explosive cry of "You shut the hell up!"

There was silence, only broken by the sound of the jinchuriki's sobbing.

"If it weren't for you Sand shinobi, sticking a monster in him this wouldn't have happened! the Akatsuki never would have hunted him **AND HE WOULDN'T BE DEAD**. Jinchuriki" Naruto scoffed. "You people came up with that word to label us! Who the hell gave you the right to look down on us and tell us what we can or can't be! You have no right to look down on a person like Gaara! He gave his life for the village. How was he repaid?! By being hunted down and killed because of a demon_ you _put in him. Did you ever ask him how he felt? Did you even care?! Gaara didn't want this! Don't assume you can tell me or anyone else what to do, you hag!"

Naruto was panting and sobbing uncontrollably by the time she'd finished. Her shoulders slumped. "For three years I worked so hard...And I couldn't even save my friend...I'm still useless..."

Umehito felt Chiyo move forward. "...Lady Chiyo.."

"There is something that I need to do..." The old puppet master said as she knelt next to Gaara. She set her hands on his chest and her hands began to glow.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Naruto asked. Chiyo didn't respond "Hey! leave him alo-"

Umehito cut Naruto off by blocking her way with his outstretched arm. "It's okay, Naruto, she's bringing him back..."

Naruto's eyes widened. Umehito looked sad. He had figured out what she was doing and what would happen if she continued.

"Damn..." the old woman muttered bitterly. "Not enough chakra..."

Naruto knelt on the other side of Gaara and held out her hands. "Use my chakra. Take as much as you need. You can do that right? Please?"

"Place your hands on mine" Chiyo said quietly.

Naruto did what she was told and the chakra grew.

"I'm happy that someone like you has appeared in the world of shinobi that we foolish old people created. Everything I've ever done was a mistake. But now, at the end, it looks like I'll finally be able to do the right thing. The Sand Village and Konoha. Their future will be much different than the way things were back in my day. That strange power of yours that Kakashi mentioned… That power will have a strong influence on the future. Become a Hokage like none before you." Chiyo said with a small smile. Umehito felt tears stream his cheeks. He didn't know her for long but she was important to him. I suppose that can happen when you battle a crazy puppet-man together. Chiyo looked over her shoulder at him "And Umehito… Next time, save the people who are dear to you, not some old hag. There aren't many boys as genuinely chivalrous as you around. You might become a shinobi who surpasses his master. I was fortunate to meet you."

"Lady Chiyo" Umehito whispered.

"Naruto… a request from an old woman. You are the only one who knows Gaara's pain… Gaara also knows your pain. Please look out for him…"

Naruto was suddenly in a desert. There was a little boy with red hair and a large sand gourd weeping, like his heart was breaking...Naruto surged forward, only vaguely aware that she was a little child again. She ran all the way to the little boy and set her hand on his shoulder with a large grin...

_"Gaara"_

The scene faded and the actual Gaara sat up with Naruto's help. He looked around at the mass of Sand Shinobi who arrived on the scene. He glanced up and the blond Jinchuriki."Naruto...?"

"Nice to see you too Gaara" Naruto wiped her eyes with her sleave.

"What is this?" Gaara questioned quietly.

"Everyone came running to help you" Naruto said with a smile."We were all scared to death"

"Lord Gaara!" A teenage sand kunoichi ran forward. "Are you alright...?!"

Gaara nodded slowly. Then the Sand Ninja began to cheer. Some people grinned and laughed, others cried with relief.

"You had me seriously scared" Naruto said with a grin.

"You did have us pretty worried, Outoto" Kankuro said with a smile as he walked up.

"Honestly you two. He's the Kazekage. Show some respect." Temari said with a wave of her hand. She then pushed Naruto out of the way. "Gaara, talk to me. How do you feel?"

Gaara tried to stand. Temari told him to take it easy and he sat back.

Somewhere in the crowd two kunoichi's began to push their way toward Gaara, vowing to protect him with their lives. Temari stood in between them and Gaara, saying he needed breathing room.

"Thank you, Naruto" Kankuro said quietly. He thought of how this girl, saved his brother from himself and now she saved him from dying.

"Oh don't thank me, dattebayo. Granny Chiyo brought him back with some weird medical ninjutsu" Naruto smiled in Chiyo's direction. She was still and her eyes were closed. Umehito was supporting her. "It looks like she tired herself out but I'm sure she'll be fine when we get back to the village-"

"No. She won't" Kankuro said firmly but sadly.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"That wasn't Medical ninjutsu" Kankuro quietly elaborated. "It was a Life Transfer Jutsu. Chiyo brought Gaara back at the cost of her own life."

"Are you serious?" Tenten asked.

"Years ago during the First Shinobi World War, Puppeteers were working on a way to bring their puppets to life. Halfway through it was deemed to dangerous and the idea was abandoned. Chiyo led that project and was the only one who could use it...You bring someone back but you die in there place..."

Naruto looked back over at his teammate and the woman who saved his friend, and stood. Chiyo's brother, Ebizo, stood next to them. "...I almost expect her to burst out laughing...She look's so peaceful"

Umehito nodded as the tears made their way down his face. "...Yes..."

"Naruto" Temari said quietly. "You really do have the power to chnge people...Lady Chiyo always said she didn't care about the future of the hidden Sand. She wasn't the type to do this for Gaara..."

"Chiyo has entrusted the future to you and Gaara" Kakashi said quietly. "A marvelous ending befitting a true Shinobi"

"Just like the Sandaime" Naruto murmmered. "I think I know what Granny wished for..."

"Gaara, are you alright?" Naruto turned and saw that Gaara was trying to stand again. He brushed off the sand kunoichi with an 'I'm fine'. Gaara continued. He stumbled but Naruto caught his arm before he could fall.

"Everyone" Gaara said in a low voice. "Say a prayer for Lady Chiyo, and bid her farewell."

Everyone shut their eyes and all thought different versions of the same thing. All thanked Chiyo for her sacrifice.

..::*later*::..

Injuries had been mended, everyone had a decent amount of rest, and a hot shower. Now they were heading back to the leaf.

Naruto looked at Gaara. "I guess this is were we're supposed to get all choked up and-"

Naruto stopped at the sight of Gaara's extended hand. He wore a tiny smile, one filled with gratitude.

The intention was probably for her to shake his hand. Nope. In a flash of orange Naruto had Subaku no Gaara wrapped tightly in a hug. He flinched slightly but soon wrapped his arms around her too.

It made him think of the first time she hugged him. They were twelve, and it had been a turning point for him.

"Oh and Gaara" Naruto said pleasantly enough. "Next time I come out here and have to save your ass, your buying me ramen, dattebayo."

"That sounds reasonable enough" Gaara said with yet another tiny smile.

"Good." Naruto kissed his cheek*. "Take care of yourself, Gaara."

"You too Naruto" Gaara said through his slight blush.

"Bye!" Naruto called as she ran in the direction of her comrades.

Gaara just watched as she disappeared over a dune. Then without a word he walked back to his village with his siblings, a tiny smile still on his face.

* * *

* This is not a ship. She's just expressing that she cares. Her and Gaara's relationship is totally platonic.


	7. I'm not a damsel

**I wanted to write about Naruto and about how she doesn't want to feel useless. This is kinda what spawned that trait.**

* * *

"Oh my god your teeth are pointed, dattebayo." Naruto said quietly as they walked along. "I never noticed that. It's so cool!"

"Uh..." Umehito glanced at Naruto. "Thank you?"

It was their first mission out of the village and they were stuck on a C-rank escort mission. The client was a bridge builder named Tazuna. At the moment he was walking and drinking simultaneously a few paces in front of them.

Naruto was kinda pissed at him still. He not only commented on her height, but also said she had a ditzy expression. Kakashi had to pick her up, toss her over his shoulder, and step out of the room before she did anything violent.

Naruto continued to chat with Umehito. "I bet when you were teething you must have gone through chew toys like nobody's business."

"yeah" He shrugged.

Shortly after Team 7 was formed and Kakashi had them do an introduction, Naruto 'kidnapped' Umehito. From there the two sat near the lake and talked.

Naruto had at one point confided in him that she was the nine-tails Jinchuriki. She said since they were on the same team now he should know.

Umehito then quietly confessed his reason for leaving the hidden Mist. He was training along side a few other kids to become the next generation of Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Starting when he was four he was meticulously trained to wield the Needle Sword. At some point it was decided that he was too soft and plans were made to dispose of him. His mother caught wind of this and the two headed toward Konoha. Thanks to the civil war no one really noticed their absence.

The two weren't best friends or anything but they were much closer than they had been.

Both were too engrossed in their conversation and they didn't notice the weird puddle. Sasuke didn't notice either. Then two men rose out of the puddle and immediately attacked Kakashi with a large chain.

The chain had wrapped itself around Kakashi who was instantly shredded. Umehito turned pale, Sasuke's mouth fell open, and Naruto screamed "N-nii-san!"

The two of them stood behind Naruto, laughing darkly. "Now it's your turn"

Sasuke jumped up and threw a shuriken. The chain was caught on a tree, he threw a kunai for good measure and it stuck. Then he kicked them both in the face.

Seeing that their chain wasn't an option anymore the Demon Brothers split up. One of them headed for the bridge builder and the other went at Naruto.

Umehito stood in front of Tazuna with a kunai in hand. Sasuke saw this and jumped down next to him. Then Kakashi stopped him. "Hi"

"Sensei?" Umehito asked.

Kakashi had both of them under his arms. "Substitution technique"

Naruto stood up. "I'm going to kill you for that!"

"I didn't mean to let you get hurt but I needed to see who they were after." He walked toward a tree. "I didn't think you'd freeze like that."

Naruto looked down at her hand and there was a bloody scratch from one of the Demon Brothers claws. She was seriously angry though, at herself more than anything. She had to be saved. Like some kind of helpless damsel in distress. Sasuke acted like he'd done this a hundred times, and Umehito didn't even hesitate to get in front of Tazuna. Yet she froze. How useless.

"Good work Sasuke. You too Umehito" Kakashi said with a nod in their direction. Naruto started walking toward them, until Kakashi barked "Don't move Naruto. Their was poison in their claws if you move it will spread faster."

Naruto yelped, she looked at her hand again.

"By the way Tazuna-san, we need to talk." Kakashi said cooly.

Kakashi explained that they were chunin level ninja from the Mist. He stated that he figured something was amiss when he saw the puddle on a clear day after it hadn't rained in weeks. Then he said that if they had known their were ninja hunting him it would have been at least a b-rank.

"Maybe we should go back to the village" Sasuke said quietly. "Besides Naruto's been poisoned. She should see a doctor or something"

"Yes. Her hand could become a problem" Kakashi sighed. "I guess we should go back to village."

Naruto gritted her teeth and stabbed her hand hard with a kunai. As the blood dripped she muttered "I worked hard to get here. I refuse to be helpless! I'm never backing down again. I will never let anyone feel the need to save me again! Bridge builder, I'm going to protect you and finish this mission. A real shinobi doesn't give up and I won't either, dattebayo!"

"Um Naru-chan, I appreciate the enthusiasm. But if that wound bleeds anymore your going to die." Kakashi said flatly.

Naruto didn't even care about the use of 'Naru-chan' something she'd told him over and over to stop doing. She started to turn white and sweat bullets. Then she proceeded to scream and flail around. "I'm too young for it to end like this!"

Umehito walked up. "Lemme see your hand."

Naruto stuck her hand out and Umehito held it by the wrist. Sasuke and Kakashi watched. They figured since Umehito said he wanted to be a Medic-nin he would know something. They didn't expect him to hold his other hand out over her's or that it would be glowing with soft green light.

"Oh wow" Naruto marveled as the pain lessened dramatically. "I didn't know you could do that, dattebayo."

"Did you teach yourself?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah. I read a lot and one day I read about the Sannin, Tsunade. She's seriously cool and I want to be like her someday. She's the one who started the practice of every team having a medic during battles. She saved so many lives because of that. I heard she's seriously strong too" Umehito smiled as he talked. Now that the wound was mostly healed he wrapped the had in gauze.

"Yeah she almost killed my godfather at some point" Naruto beamed. She was happy to see Umehito look so animated when he talked. "Then she saved him."

"You guys are weird." Sasuke said quietly.

"Don't forget it, Uchiha" Naruto grinned.


	8. The Slug Sanin pt 1

"Where's my dad?!" Naruto yelled at one of the ANBU.

The ANBU held out his hands in a placating gesture "Naruto-sama, you need to take it easy-"

"No!" She yelled "There's something your not telling me!"

"Naruto" Obito set his hand on her shoulder. "get back in bed and I'll tell you what happened."

Naruto was still recovering from her fight with Gaara. It was mainly exhaustion that put her in the hospital. Still she had only just woken up. The girl reluctantly climbed back onto her hospital bed.

"Minato-sensei is in a coma" Obito said quietly.

Naruto's eyes widened. All her life she looked at her father as a pillar of strength. He was indestructible in her eyes. Something constant and unyielding. Sometimes it would occur to her that he was human, breakable. She never lingered on those thoughts much. Her dad was the strongest in Konoha. He would be sticking around.

Obito quietly went on to tell Naruto about the battle with Orochimaru. The snake bastard had used the reanimated bodies of the first and second Hokages after sequestering off an area. Minato managed to seal his predecessors and Orochimaru's arms. But Minato hadn't skated by unscathed. By the end of the fight Minato was dealing with severe chakra depletion, blood loss, tissue damage, and broken bones.

"Sensei will recover, but it's unlikely he'll be able to be Hokage again right away." Obito finished. "He should be getting out of surgery soon so I'll take you to see him then."

Naruto nodded numbly. Tears flowing down her face. Obito wordlessly got up and hugged her.

"Minato-sensei is out of surgery" Rin said quietly from the door.

Naruto got out of the bed and walked out the door with Obito. The three of them wondered down the hall and into a different room.

When Naruto saw her father she made a noise somewhere between a gasp, a yelp, and a sob.

Minato was almost completely wrapped in bandages. Multiple tubes jutted from his body and he had a breathing mask attached to his face. Though aside from the tubes and bandages and the steady beeping noises of the heart-monitor, he could have been sleeping.

"daddy..." Naruto mumbled walking forward. Careful to avoid the tubes she took his hand.

She fell asleep at some point in a chair next to the bed, still holding his hand.

"How you holding up, kid?" Jiraiya woke her with his voice and the sound of a chair being set next to her.

Naruto got up and hugged the Sannin tightly, crying into his shirt. Jiraiya frowned and rubbed her back soothingly. He hadn't seen her so upset in-well never.

"Not well I take it" He said quietly as she continued to cry. "There is something I might need your help with"

"w-what is it?" Naruto hiccuped.

"The council needs to appoint a new Hokage. They know Minato won't be fully recovered for a while and other nations might try to take advantage if they found out. I want your help in tracking down an old teammate of mine, Tsunade." Jiraiya said in a low voice.

"Why wouldn't you be offered the position, Jiraiya-sensei?" Naruto rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand. "You would be a great Hokage"

"I was" Jiraiya mumbled. "I don't think I could do it. Tsunade on the other hand would be an excellent choice."

"Okay, so why do you need me to go with you?" Naruto asked curiously.

"I was hoping that on the way I could train you some more" Jiraiya said with a smile.

Naruto smiled too. "I'll be ready to leave in an hour, dattebayo."


	9. The Slug Sanin pt 2

Yay enter Tsunade!

* * *

"A legendary Sannin taking on a snot-nosed genin. I should be ashamed of myself" Tsunade said with a small smile.

"Who the hell are you callin snotty?" Naruto growled.

Tsunade held up one finger. Jiraiya rolled his eyes "Stop trying to show off, Tsunade"

Naruto didn't care if this lady was a Sannin or what ever. She had called anyone seeking the title of Hokage a fool. Naruto had taken offence and challenged her to a fight outside. Now here they were.

"See this? This one finger" Tsunade said brandishing her index finger. "It's all I'll need to take you down"

"Please" her assistant practically begged. "Don't"

"Well" she coaxed. "What are you waiting for, brat?"

"Don't you dare make fun of me, dattebayo!" Naruto charged Tsunade.

Several shuriken flew through the air, and the older kunoichi dodged them easy. It seemed she was taunting Naruto with the relaxed expression and the tiny smile. Naruto gritted her teeth and pulled a kunai.

As soon as Naruto got close Tsunade caught the kunai with her finger, then she brought her hand up and knocked her forehead protector clean off.

Naruto stumbled and the second she could almost straighten Tsunade flicked her forehead so hard she skidded back, tumbling over several times. 'the hell was that? I can't believe she flicked me! I'll show her!'

Naruto started to run foreward but stopped when her kunai landed in front of her shortly followed by her forehead protector.

"So, brat" Tsunade called. "I have a question before you pass out. What makes you so touchy about Hokage?"

"To become Hokage" Naruto said with fiery determination. "That is my dream!"

Tsunade faltered and Naruto didn't get why. In fact everyone present seemed to know something she didn't.

Naruto took it as an opening. She focused her chakra into a ball shape and ran forward. Tsunade used that one finger to split a crack in the earth. Naruto fell back and got stuck.

"Jiraiya are you the one who taught this brat the Rasengan?" Tsunade demanded as Shizune pulled Naruto out of the crack.

She had not been expecting the kid to wield the Yondaimes jutsu. Still there was no way in hell she could master it, especially, at that age. It had taken Jiraiya over three months just to learn it and he'd had the creator helping him.

"Well of coarse I did. I am her teacher after all" Jiraiya shot back "What of it?"

"You know full well that you and the Yondaime are the only ones who can work that jutsu!" Tsunade put her hands on her hips. "Your giving her false hopes by teaching her something she'll never master. You old fool. Filling her head with stupid ideas. Making her actually think she could become Hokage"

"I'll show you stupid!" Naruto got up. She was furious "Give me three days and I'll have mastered it!"

"Watch what you say brat" Tsunade smirked. I might just hold you to it."

"I said it and I meant it" Naruto scowled. "I don't go back on my word. That's my ninja way!"

"Care to make it a wager?"

"A wager?"

"I'll give you a week to master that jutsu, if you can I'll admit I'm wrong and that your worthy of becoming Hokage. I'll even throw in my necklace" Tsunade said.

"No you don't mean that!" Shizune yelled.

"You got yourself a bet" Naruto smirked.

"But if you lose I get the money in froggy" Tsunade tossed Naruto's frog wallet up and down.

"Nooo! Gama-chan!" Naruto wailed checking her pockets again.

Jiraiya looked on, not entirely sure what to make of the situation.

.

..:::*later that week*:::...

"Alright, Baa-chan" Naruto said shakily. She formed a hand sign. "Get ready to pay up."

A shadow clone appeared next to the original.

"Enough Naruto!" Tsunade yelled "You don't have to protect me! Just run!"

"I warned you not to be stubborn!" Kabuto yelled drawing a kunai. He broke into a run. "Now you die! Dreams can't come true when your dead!"

Tsunade frantically yelled for Naruto to run but she didn't move. Then in a flash of movement Naruto had the kunai between her fingers. Then her hand clenched around Kabuto's.

"Until I become the Hokage there is no way I'm going to die!" Naruto stated.

Tsunade watched in a state of shock.

"Let's see you dodge this, dattebayo!" Naruto's clone began to move it's hands around the original's palm. Then a blue orb began to form. Naruto then slammed the ball into Kabuto's midsection. "Rasengan!"

Kabuto flew back with a rush of destructive power. He slammed into a rock leaving a large crater.

Naruto panted heavily. Tsunade was almost in shock. The brat actually maneged to master it. And in a week no less!

Naruto's eyes widened Kabuto was getting back up! Naruto coughed and a mouthful of blood came out. She could see Kabuto's smirk from where she stood. Then her vision began to blur and she fell back.

Tsunade ran over to her. She glanced at Naruto then Kabuto "You. How can you even be standing after that?"

"I gathered chakra at the point of impact" Kabuto responded with a smirk. Steam curled off his wound. "I was healing myself before she even hit me. This is why Orochimaru-sama values me so. Not only for my skill and knowledge of jutsu but for my recuperative power. Naruto hasn't got that ability. It would seem to me that she's just about finished."

Naruto was unconscious, blood dribbled from her mouth and her breathing was labored. She didn't look good.

Then Kabuto collapsed. His chakra exhausted.

Tsunade put her head on Naruto's chest to listen to her heartbeat. Tsunade's eyes magnified. Her heart was failing! Quickly she unzipped the orange and blue jacket. She set her hands on Naruto's chest "The muscles surrounding her heart are completely shredded..."

Tsunade realized that Kabuto must have hit her near the heart. Tsunade focused chakra into two fingertips and opened up her shirt, keeping nothing but her bra intact. Now was not the time for modesty. Tsunade began to work her medical ninjutsu.

"Your waisting your time." Kabuto called from where he was laying. "She's finished. With my last bit of strength I severed the chakra network near her heart. She's not getting any help from the Kyubi. I cut her off from getting any help. She doesn't have the power to save herself"

"Shut up!" Tsunade yelled. "You'll be dead soon enough, I'll see to that."

Naruto stopped breathing! Tsunade started to panic. Then she started to cry all the while begging Naruto not to die.

Slowly a hand reached up and closed around the necklace. "Hey...don't forget...our bet...told ya I'd...win"

Her hand fell and she once again slipped into unconsciousness.

"To become Hokage, that's still your dream isn't it?" Tsunade said quietly. Gently she lifted Naruto's head and slipped the necklace onto her neck. "This time I want those words to be true."

Then Orochimaru attacked and tried to kill her.

Jiraiya had been slammed into the ground so hard he had left a body shaped crater. The snake Sannin came at the still unconscious Naruto with a blade extending from his mouth.

Tsunade took the hit in Naruto's place. Orochimaru retracted the blade and stood. "Tsunade. You are the one person who I don't want to kill. But if that brat is allowed to live it will mean more trouble than you and your friends can even imagine. Stay out of my way."

"No" Tsunade stated. "If I do nothing else I will protect this girl"

Amused Orochimaru asked his former teammate. "And how do you plan to do that? Look at you. Your shivering like a leaf in the wind. Besides why would you, one of the Sannin, go out of your way to protect a lowly genin."

Tsunade coughed blood and then gave Orochimaru a glare. "Because, by protecting her I'm protecting my home. The village Hidden in the Leaves."

"You really think your protecting the village?"

"You see, this girl, this lowly little genin, is going to be Hokage someday." Tsunade stated fondly.

"What nonesense" Orochimaru chuckled. "Even if it is true, who cares about the Hokage. It's a fools job"

"Well from now on I'm gambling everything too" Tsunade stood. "I am putting my life on the line."

"Well if your really willing to throw your life away for the sake of one insignificant brat" He smirked "I will gladly accommodate you!"

He swung his blade at her and she fell back bloodied, unceremoniously hitting the ground

Orochimaru walked foreward. "Now all that remains is Naruto herself..."

Once again Tsunade took a hit meant for the unconscious girl.

"You really are determined aren't you?" Orochimaru smiled with malice. "I'm impressed."

"I meant what I said you fool" Tsunade glared over her shoulder. "I will die before I let you touch her!"

The fight continued. Tsunade healed herself using chakra she'd stored. After that each Sannin made use of the Summoning Jutsu. Their Summons battled it out. After Orochimaru's snake had his mouth impaled, he left.

Orochimaru then swore he would get his arms back another way and he would destroy the Leaf village. Then he left.

Tsunade covered Naruto with her jacket and Jiraiya noticed what his student wore on her neck. A smile formed on his face "You never could recognize a fools bet when you saw it"


	10. The Slug Sanin pt 3

"Let me his charts" Tsunade held out her hand expectantly. The flustered nurse nodded and set the clip board in her hands.

Naruto had climbed onto the bed next to Minato, and was now sleeping next to him. He'd only just woken from his coma, but he was still far from recovered. He hadn't gotten back the full use of his arms and his legs weren't working at all. Despite all the medication he was in almost constant pain. Even so he managed to put an arm around Naruto.

"Well the good news is that you'll walk again" Tsunade said with a smirk. "though I will be putting you under the knife"

Minato nodded. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama. And thank you for assuming the mantle of Hokage. It's greatly appreciated."

"Don't sweat it, Minato-san" Tsunade said with a smile. "Besides, it's your daughter you should be thanking. She's the one who brought me back."

"Naruto has always been good at making friends and changing people." Minato stated fondly. "I'm pretty sure that's why Jiraiya-sensei brought her along."

"Did he tell you about what he taught her?" Tsunade asked.

"No." Minato glanced up at Tsunade. "What was it?"

"Your twelve year old daughter was able to master the Rasengan in a week." Tsunade informed with a grin.

"Good for her." Minato said with a tiny smile.

"Your child really is something special, Minato." Tsunade said looking at Naruto. She'd curled up close to her father and her head was gently fit into the space next to his neck.

"I know that." Minato said softly.


	11. Beautiful

**Warning this chapter contains self harm. Basically Naruto is ten and isn't happy with her appearance. Father daughter fluff.**

* * *

He'd heard whimpering coming from the bathroom. He knocked softly on the door. When he didn't get a response he grew worried and opened the door.

Minato found his ten year old daughter standing in front of the mirror with a square of sandpaper in her hand. Naruto's right cheek had been rubbed raw, he was willing to bet the slightest touch would be enough to make it bleed. She'd been crying.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Minato ran into the bathroom and pried the sandpaper out of his child's fingers.

"They won't come off!" Naruto shrieked. Fresh tears worked their way down her face. "Why won't they come off?!"

Naruto was clearly talking about the whisker-like birthmarks on her cheeks. He could see that despite the redness they were still clearly there. Why was she so desperate to be rid of them? They had never bothered her before.

"Naruto, they're a part of you" Minato informed her. "Why were you so desperate to make them go away?"

Naruto sat down on the bathroom floor and Minato joined her. "I was hoping maybe if I could make them go away, I could be pretty. The other girls are so beautiful. Compared to them I'm ugly."

"C'mere" Minato picked her up and set her on his lap. "I once knew a girl who didn't like the way she looked either. For her it was her hair. I personally could never see what was so bad about it. It was long and straight and a beautiful color- yet she was constantly teased for it."

Naruto frowned. She could relate. "well that's stupid."

"I agree." Minato said setting his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Well this girl started getting into fights with the bullies. Every single time she would beat the crap out of them. Then one day she saw that I'd been watching her fight and hadn't interveined-"

"Why didn't you?" Naruto questioned.

"Because I knew she was strong enough to handle them" Minato smiled gently. "She was an incredible woman. But everyone has their limits. When we were around thirteen years old she was kidnapped by Kumo, for the special chakra she possessed."

"Was she okay? What happened?"

"I'm getting to that. Anyway she was smart and resourceful. When they were leading her away she pulled out strands of her very distinctive hair as a trail. I noticed it on the ground and I went after her. By the time I'd caught up with her and took out the Kumo ninja's she was so exhausted she fell over. I caught her and got her out of there. I told her how her hair was beautiful and that I didn't want to lose her."

"Wow." Naruto breathed. "What happened to her."

"Well I'll put it like this: I married her and she had my child." Minato said with a smile.

"Mom hated her hair? It was so pretty though, and she was beautiful too, dattebayo. I wish I looked more like her."

Minato chuckled. "It's funny you should say that, because you get your face from her. I just passed down my hair and eye color."

I really look like mom?"

"Yes. You look just like she did when she was your age and I know that you'll grow up into a beautiful woman, as well. Give it a couple of years and I'll have to beat the boys off with a stick" Minato smiled, Naruto sweat-dropped. "How about we get a bandage for that cheek of yours?"

"Okay." Naruto stood up and Minato got to his feet as well.

"Remember that no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Minato set his hand on top of her head. "I don't know if this means much since I'm your father, but I think you are beautiful and to me you always will be."

"Thanks dad."


	12. Somber news and wasted ramen

TO THE BUS Y'ALL! IT'S TIME FOR A FEELS TRIP!

yeah I don't regret anything...

This is based on the episode where she learns that Jiraiya has been killed, so brace yourself for slightly depressing content.

* * *

"Naruto, your dad needs to see you" Rin said sticking her head in Naruto's door. "He said it was urgent."

"Okay. I'll be there in a sec, Rin-nee." Naruto threw a dark blue jacket on over her tank top. She had pretty much spent the day cooped up in her room. She pulled on one sandal and then dug around under the bed for the other one.

Naruto did what she usually did. She exited the house through her window and jumped on the rooftops in the direction of the Hokage tower. She halted in her tracks when she noticed two very large and familiar toads.

"Bunta?" Naruto jumped down to land in front of them. "And Gamikichi?"

"Hey Naruto. What's up." Gamakichi said cheerfully.

"What are you guys doing here? Did something happen?"

"Er...well actually-"

"Gamakichi!" Gamabunta cut him off. "Let Minato and the boss handle this. They know what they're doing."

"Okaaaay" Naruto said slowly. "Well I guess I'll see you around."

Naruto made her way up to the Hokage office. When she opened the door she was met with four toads, Tsunade sitting on a chair and drinking a bottle of sake with Shizune's hand on her shoulder, and her father sitting behind his desk.

"So this Jiraiya-boy's other student?" a smaller elderly frog asked of Minato.

"Yes this is my daughter, Naruto Namikaze. The child of prophecy you spoke of" Minato supplied quietly.

"Who's the Geezer-toad, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto show a little respect." Minato said in a steely tone. "He is one of the two great sages of Mount Myoboko, he came all the way here to talk to you, Fukasaku-sama"

"Are you really Jiraiya-boy's student?"He asked.

"Jiraiya-boy? Boy?!" Naruto said incredulously. "Don't treat Jiraiya-sensei like a kid. Who the hell does this Geezer-toad think he is?"

"Naruto!" Minato said loudly. "Watch your mouth."

"Naruto" Shizune said quietly. "Fukasaku-sama was Jiraiya's master. He was the one who taught him the sage jutsu."

"Well what did he come so far to talk to me about?" Naruto questioned.

"I'm not exactly sure where to begin. I should probably start with the most important thing." Fukasaku took a breath. "I'm afraid Jiraiya-boy was killed in battle."

If a ton have bricks had hit her head on it would have been less painful than this. She could hardly remember how to breathe "W-what?"

"I know this is sudden and it might be hard to believe" Fukasaku looked up at Naruto "He'd heard a rumor that the Akatsuki's leader was in the Hidden Rain. He decided to investigate himself."

Naruto listened in a kind of shock as the old toad told them what had happened. Pein was not only one of Jiraiya's students, but he also possessed a very rare, very powerful ocular jutsu, and was operating with five others all with the Rinnegan.

"He left this message in code." Fukasaku removed his cloak and turned so the numbers on his back were visible. "I believe Jiraiya-boy tried to tell us the secret behind the multiple Pains. His throat had been crushed but he managed to get this out before collapsing."

Minato looked up for a moment. His chin was resting on his intertwined fingers. "We'll have to analyze it and see what it means."

"You let him go, didn't you?" Naruto muttered bitterly to her father. "You told Jiraiya-sensei he could go. Didn't you?"

Minato looked at his daughter. "Yes. I told him that he could."

"Why would you do that!?" Naruto yelled. "If he'd been the Hokage he never would have let you do something so dangerous! You were so important to him and you just sent him to his death! How could you?!"

"Naruto-" Minato barely managed to open his mouth before Naruto had vanished in a cloud of smoke. Minato rubbed his temples and then looked at Fukasaku. "I apologize for the actions of my daughter. I can arrange for-"

"There is no need." Fukasaku said quietly. "I see that she loved and admired Jiraiya-boy very much. It makes me hope more than anything that she is the child of prophecy"

Naruto materialized on her fathers head on the Hokage monument. She sat down and brought her knees to her chest. She looked over the village and then she buried her face in her legs.

Naruto kept thinking about how he had given her her favorite toy when she was a baby. How he taught her about chakra and hand signs when she was five, this is when she started calling him sensei. The fancy hair clips he bought for her as a graduation present.

Naruto rolled the dark blue bangle on her wrist.

When she was thirteen she went to train with him for over two years. They grew closer over those years and that is saying something considering he was already like a grandfather. She looked back at the days when she was so tired from training she'd fall asleep leaning on him. Sometimes when they finished training he'd buy a popsicle, the kind with two sticks that you pull apart, and they would split it.

And she couldn't help feel a little betrayed in a way. He had died. He left her. He wasn't coming back. He was supposed to watch her become a great ninja. He was supposed to see her assume he title of Hokage.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as she thought of him. She was never going to see him again.

"Thought I might find you up here. I heard about Jiraiya-sama" Sasuke sat down next to Naruto. He handed her a warm takeout container. "I'm not all that good at being comforting but I did bring ramen. It's Ichiraku's"

"thanks, Sasuke." Naruto took the bucket like container and Sasuke handed her some chopsticks. She set them down next to her "I'm not really hungry right now, dattebayo."

Now Sasuke was seriously concerned. Naruto had never turned down ramen once as long as he'd known her.

"You really miss him don't you?" Sasuke asked flatly.

"I just wanted him to stay with me." Naruto now had tears running down her face. "He was supposed to watch me become Hokage. He was supposed to keep watching over me."

"If there's a way I know that he still is." Sasuke said with a small smile. "I don't think he'd want to see you so upset. Jiraiya-sama would always say you were like a grandchild and then he'd brag about you to anyone who'd listen. He would want to see you smiling and being irritatingly upbeat. He would want you to bounce back."

"Thanks Sasuke." Naruto mumbled.

The Uchiha boy took her hand and gently helped her to her feet. From there they headed for the Hokage office. Naruto did her best to think of Jiraiya as she remembered him.

The big goofy smile. Idly twirling a pen in his fingers. Those hot summer days they spent training. Sitting in small restaurants or near a campfire laughing until their stomachs ached.

a small smile formed on her face.


	13. Naruto she stayed

have some single father Minato! *shoves*

* * *

Minato woke to the shrill cries of an infant. He sat up and slid off his bed, slowly padding his way over to the crib a few feet away. His clock read six AM. From there he lifted his crying daughter into his arms and rubbed her back soothingly. He'd only changed her diaper two hours ago so he was convinced she was hungry.

"You've got excellent timing, Naruto-chan" He said as he walked with her to the kitchen. He began to prepare the formula with one hand. "I was needing to get up soon anyway. We've got a council meeting today in a few hours. Truth be told I'm not looking forward to it at all."

Once he'd heated the bottle and tested the temperature on his wrist he settled himself in an old squishy arm chair in the living room. Naruto sucked on the bottle. Minato smiled at her. He just couldn't get over what a beautiful baby she was.

She had a short crop of wispy blond hair and big blue eyes. Her cheeks were pinkish and she had little whisker like marks on them.

Naruto was now just under three weeks old. He'd found it pretty hilarious how attached his students had become toward her. Rin simply loved to hold her, Obito constantly gushed about how incredibly cute she was, and Kakashi had started carrying books on early child development. The three of them had even offered to babysit once or twice a week so Minato could sleep.

When Naruto had finished Minato put the bottle next to the sink and went to get himself and Naruto dressed for the day. He dressed in his usual attire and put Naruto in a tiny purple and blue onesie that Rin had bought.

There was a knock on the door. "Sensei can we come in?"

"Yeah" Minato called.

Obito and Rin stepped inside. Rin grinned at the sight of Naruto and immediately asked to hold her. Minato smiled and carefully handed Naruto to his student.

"Are you nervous at all?" Obito asked Minato quietly.

"A little." Minato admitted. "I'm already hearing talk about her being the demon itself every time we leave the house."

Rin scoffed. "Idiots all of them. Right, Naru-chan?"

Naruto made gurgling sounds causing Rin to go to cloud nine.

"I'm hoping this will convince them that Naruto isn't the demon." He looked at Obito. "I'm also going to clear the suspicions surrounding the Uchiha's if I can help it."

Obito nodded solemnly. For the past three weeks he and every other Uchiha had been taking a lot of the blame for the attack. Word had somehow gotten out that the nine tails was being controlled with a sharingan. Minato had confirmed that the man did have the sharingan but hadn't been inside the village gates in years. In fact he was supposed to be dead.

"Are you doing okay, Sensei?" Rin asked with concern in her voice as Minato began to prepare a baby bag.

Every one had been concerned for his mental and physical health after the battle. He'd been experiencing severe chakra depletion along with various other injuries. Then when he'd woken up he'd been told that Kushina had died.

Minato finished stuffing an extra diaper into one of the bags pockets. "I'll be fine."

Obito and Rin nodded though they didn't believe him in the slightest.

..::*The council meeting*::..

"My daughter is not the Fox and she never will be." Minato practically growled. It could have been funny in different circumstances, considering there was a baby strapped to his chest in a harness. "She is just containing it. Without her the fox would have destroyed us all."

"But what if the demon has corrupted you?" Someone on the civilian council asked.

Minato turned slowly. He pulled a kunai out of it's holster and for a second everyone was convinced he was going to throw it at the unfortunate loudmouth. Instead he also pulled out a scroll, did a seal, and sealed the kunai in the scroll.

"Please try to stab me with this." He said walking over and handing the scroll to the woman. "Rin could you hold Naruto for a moment?"

Rin nodded and Minato handed Naruto to her. The woman looked down at the scroll and then at Minato's neutral expression. "But I can't use ninjutsu-"

"I wasn't asking you to unseal the kunai." Minato said quietly.

"You said to stab you?" The lady arched a brow.

"Yes. With this." He tapped the scroll. Minato held his arms to the side exposing his chest. "Go on. What are you waiting for?"

"But you can't stab a person with a scroll." She muttered.

"The same is true for Naruto." Minato stated matter-of-factly. He took the scroll back. "It's almost the same thing but on a much larger scale. She's the scroll and the fox is the kunai. As long as the seal stays intact there shouldn't be a problem."

"So how should we proceed from here?" Shikaku Nara asked quietly.

"Well I feel we should address the Uchiha clan issue." Minato returned to his seat. Murmurers circulated through the crowd.

"Did the master mind really posses a sharingan?" A man in the civilian council asked with fear evident in his voice.

"He did." Minato sad with a nod. "Though it wasn't a leaf shinobi who orchestrated this. He claimed to be Madara Uchiha. I know he could have been lying but his chakra was immense and sinister. More than any shinobi currently in the leaf.

"On another note starting from this day on no one will talk about the Kyubi being sealed in Naruto. No one is to mention it to her or to anyone who is unaware. Those who disobey will be severely punished." Minato stated firmly. "I will personally see to it that Naruto knows about it. She will hear it from me and no one else."

Rin looked down at Naruto, who had just fallen asleep. She was wondering how this innocent little child would take the news.

..::*Later that night*::..

Minato closed the book he'd been reading out loud next to Naruto's crib. It was Tales of an Utterly Gutsy was of coarse glassing over the more 'adult' aspects of the book. He'd been told by Kakashi that reading and talking to babies was a really good habit. Besides, she was named after the story's hero.

They had been told the baby was a boy so they hadn't bothered with choosing a girls name. When the midwife had said the baby was a girl they hadn't known what to do. Kushina suggested they come up with something a little later. But later hadn't come. Madara attacked, the kyubi was forcibly removed from Kushina, Hiruzen Sarutobi died sealing the fox into their baby, and Kushina died from her injuries.

Minato decided that the little girl would stay Naruto. The name Kushina would use when she talked to her enlarged stomach. The name she lovingly embroidered on tiny hats and socks. The name they had chosen together, in the hope their baby would be like the hero in the story.

He didn't even notice it starting but soon tears began to leak out of his eyes. It should have been him. He should have died. Kushina should be the one reading to their baby. She should have been the one watching her grow up. He put his hands over his face.

Suddenly little babbling noises came from next to the bed. Minato wiped his eyes and cheeks and walked over to the crib. Naruto saw his face and he could have sworn she smiled at him.

Minato picked her up and held her. She was so small, fragile. Yet the look in her eyes suggested that this little baby trusted him completely.

"How on earth did I help make something so beautiful?" Minato wondered out loud.

"Beats me kid." Jiraiya said from the window. He climbed inside "Can I see her? I heard it was a girl."

"Of coarse Sensei" Minato said with a small smile. He gently handed her to Jiraiya who took a seat on the bed next to him. "Make sure to support her head."

Jiraiya nodded and smiled slightly at the baby in his arms, looking up at him with large blue eyes and a blank expression. "So what's her name?"

"Naruto." Minato looked at his hands. "I couldn't change it."

"I understand." Jiraiya said quietly.

The two sat in silence for a couple of minutes. Then Minato smiled and said "I think she likes you. Normally she gets all fidgety with anyone who's not Rin, Obito, Kakashi, or myself."

"Well I am her godfather." Jiraiya pointed out with a grin. "That reminds me. I got her some things"

Jiraiya handed her back to Minato and pulled a scroll off of his belt. He did a hand sign and three items popped up as soon as the smoke cleared. A toad plush toy that looked suspiciously like Gamabunta. A soft orange blanket with little frog faces on it. And finally a green onesie with frogs on it as well.

"I have decided that as her godfather I have the divine right to spoil her rotten." Jiraiya said with a grin. "I just can't wait until she'd old enough to learn ninjutsu."

"When that happens I want you to be the one who helps her learn everything." Minato said with a smile.

"Are you sure?"

"Of coarse." Minato looked at Jiraiya. "Your one of the few people I trust to teach her."

The two of them talked for the next hour. Eventually Naruto fell asleep and Jiraiya left. Minato settled down under the covers with Naruto's crib pushed right next to the bed. He set his hand on the edge. "Goodnight, Naruto. I love you."


	14. the otouto to my Nee-chan

So yeah. Naruto and Konohamaru sibling fluffiness.

Fluff is my life.

* * *

Naruto sat on a hunk of rubble while Rin checked her over for injuries. People were beginning to set up tents for the night, while others prepared refugee centers in the few buildings that hadn't been too badly damaged.

Umehito was with Shizune helping Tsunade. Sasuke and Obito were hunting for salvageable essentials. Minato had fallen asleep and was in a tent near by Kakashi was helping deal with the wounded.

"Naruto-nee-chan!" A boy with spiked brown hair and a long blue scarf ran in that direction.

"Konohamaru?" Naruto looked over Rin's shoulder.

Konohamaru had been a presence in Naruto's life for a long time. He being the grandson of the Sandaime and her being the daughter of the Yondaime. He used to follow her around as a toddler. When he was slightly older he got it into his head that if he could defeat Minato he could become Hokage. It was Naruto who taught him that there weren't any short cuts and if he wanted to be Hokage he would need to work hard.

After that she started to show him some new jutsu, so the two of them could one day compete for the title. Somewhere along the way she became his Nee-chan.

"Are you okay, Nee-chan?!" He asked stoping short and panting. "I wanted to see you after...you know, but I got distracted."

"It's fine" Naruto smiled. "I was actually going to look for you after this, dattebayo. Is it true you used rasengan on one of the Peins?"

Konohamaru blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "You heard about that huh?"

"Well you should be good to go, Naruto" Rin said with a smile. "I'm going to check on your father."

Naruto slid off the chunk of rubble and walked up to him. Then he encased him firmly in a hug. "Nice to see you too, squirt, and I'm seriously happy your alright."

"Stop with all this mushy stuff!" He said from somewhere in her shoulder. "I'm not a baby!"

"It's not my fault your so freaking adorable" She said pinching his cheek.

He smacked her hand away and glared.

"Eh what can I say. I look at you like a baby brother." Naruto grinned. "I'm always going to think your adora-"

She was cut off when Konohamaru hugged her tightly. "Those guys were so strong... They were the same group that killed uncle Asuma... I was so worried about you..."

"Hey I'm fine, otouto." Naruto stroked his hair as a wet spot began to grow on her shoulder. "Shhh it's going to be okay."

Konohamaru continued to hold tightly to her as if she was a lifeline. He allowed the emotional strain he'd suffered to finally come to the surface. Naruto held onto him and continued to let him cry.

What kind of sister would she be if she didn't do this for him?


	15. My life is a lie

"Your going to catch a cold if you sleep here...wake up. Come on...get up"

Naruto cracked her eyes open. There was a girl* with dark hair and a pink kimono shaking her gently. Naruto sat up and yawned. "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"

"I'm gathering herbs." The girl tilted her head. "Why were you sleeping in the forest?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I was training. Trying to build up my chakra reserves dattebayo."

"So are you a ninja? I couldn't help but notice your headband." She said quietly.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto grinned and adjusted the metal on her forehead.

"That's very impressive" The girl said impassively. "So are you training for something dangerous?"

"Nah" Naruto replied with a grin. "I just have to get stronger."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "You seem strong all ready isn't that enough?"

"Oh no. I need to keep getting stronger." She said loudly. "I've got to keep practicing!"

"Why is it so important to you?" She asked.

"I want to surpass my father some day and he's the strongest in my entire village. Compared to him I'm nothing." Naruto stated. "Plus I need to prove something to someone."

"So are you doing it for this certain person or is it for yourself?"

"Eh?"

The girl began to chuckle.

"What the hells so funny, dattebayo?" Naruto yelled.

"Is there someone who's precious to you?" She asked in perfect seriousness.

"Precious?" Naruto asked.

"You see when a person has someone or something precious they want to protect they become truly strong." The girl stated.

"Oh" Naruto said quietly. "I know exactly what you mean."

"Good." The girl stood up and handed Naruto a small wildflower. "You will get strong. I know it."

"Thanks Lady!" Naruto said with a grin.

"Oh and by the way." The girl turned, a small smile on her face. "I'm a boy."

Naruto's mouth fell open.

"We'll meet again." She-no he said not turning around. "Goodbye"

A few minutes later Umehito and Sasuke ran up and found their teammate sitting cross-legged in the grass with a slightly shocked expression and a flower in her hand.

"Snap out of it, airhead." Sasuke said giving her a firm smack upside the head.

She turned with a perfectly serious expression. "Have you ever met a boy that was prettier than most of the girls you know? Therefore knocking your self confidence down a few pegs...?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shuddered. "I have... Oh god I have..."

Umehito and Sasuke exchanged confused looks.

*at the time she still thought Haku was a girl


	16. Your hair is weird but I like you

"Why do you look all depressed?" Sasuke turned to find one of the girls from his academy class drop herself next to him on the dock.

He recognized her. The infamous Namikaze loudmouth. The one who had no problem being disrespectful to her superiors and seemed to get off on causing trouble. He figured ignoring her was his best bet.

"Hey...hey...hey..." She started to poke him with each word. When that didn't work she waved her hand in front of his face "Are you alive...?"

Sasuke turned slowly, releasing an impressive amount of killing intent for a seven year old before hissing "What do you want?"

"I asked you a question." She poked his arm again and a tick mark appeared on his head. "Why do you look so sad?"

"I'm not sad, Airhead" Sasuke said venomously.

"You sir, are full of crap." Naruto quickly looked over her shoulder to see if there was anyone around to tell her father about swearing. "I will sit on you if I have to."

"Please." Sasuke scoffed. "You wouldn't even be able to touch me."

"Riiiight." Naruto said placing her hands on her hips and drawing the word out. "I could pound you and your stupid haircut into the ground any day, dattebayo"

"Your calling my hair stupid?" Sasuke said standing up. "Your's looks like a lemon threw up on you!"

"Is that the best insult you could think of?" Naruto smirked and stood up. "Your's look like someone pasted a black duck to your head. And you have girly bangs!"

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Well at least my clothes aren't bright enough to blind people." Sasuke said gesturing to her bright orange t-shirt.

"Well I have a better sense of style than you" Naruto adjusted the clip that kept the hair off her face. "It's so far ahead of yours that you just don't understand."

"That must be it." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"How I dress isn't the point." Naruto said with a confident grin. "Point is I could kick your butt with my eyes closed."

"Care to challenge that?" He said imperiously.

She fell into a proper stance before running at him. She struck at him and he blocked. Then he struck and she blocked. They went on like this for around ten minutes before he managed to hit her shoulder, and she stumbled back. She was about to fall into the lake when she reached out and grabbed Sasuke's wrist, taking him with her.

They fell in the water with a loud splash. Naruto bobbed to the surface like a cork. Sasuke followed seconds later.

"Nice going, Airhead." Sasuke muttered. "Now we're both wet."

"Shut up." She said rolling her eyes. She smiled over at him. "Your pretty good. You know, for a stuck up jerk"

"Your not so bad yourself." He said quietly. "For an airhead."

Later the two of them sat on the dock dressed in just their undershirts and underwear. Their clothes had been laid out so they could dry in the late summer sun. It wasn't a big deal considering they were both so young.

"So what had you so sad?" Naruto asked swinging her legs and making little patterns on the waters glassy surface with her toes.

"My brother left the village." Sasuke murmured. "He decided to travel. I miss him a lot."

"Itachi Uchiha?" Naruto asked. "My Nii-san said something about that during dinner. He used to be part of the Uchiha clan."

"How is he your brother then?" Sasuke asked.

"I used to wonder the same thing" Naruto said looking at the surface of the water. She smiled. "My dad said that blood doesn't make a family. I love Obito-nii and my other siblings with all my heart. It doesn't matter that they aren't bio-biologi- blood relatives."

"Oh"

The two of them sat quietly. Naruto was the first to break the silence. "Hey Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we be friends, dattebayo?" She asked. "It's just when ever I see you, your alone. I know what that's like, so I think we could understand each other."

"Really?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." Naruto held her hand out. "So what do you say?"

"Sure." He smiled and shook her hand.

"Naru-chan, why the hell are you all wet?" Obito called from the other end of the dock. He walked over. "Hi Sasuke. I'm guessing you two fell in?"

"We were sparing, he got a lucky shot, and I dragged him into the water with me." Naruto replied with a wide grin.

"Lucky shot" Sasuke scoffed. "Yeah right"

"Like you'd be able to do it again." Naruto snarked. "I wasn't even using ninjutsu. If I was I would lay you out, dattebayo."

"Oh please. I can use fire style."

"Well I can make shadow clones"

"I have the top score in taijutsu."

"Well I can do this thing." Naruto pulled her pinkie so it touched her wrist.

"Eww!" Sasuke yelped scooting back into Obito;s legs. "That's so messed up!"

Obito grinned. "Come on guys."

He grabbed their clothes and then walked off with the two kids walking on either side of him.

That day when Obito was drying their hair off with a towel and hunting for some clothes that Sasuke could wear while his were drying off, The Namikaze loudmouth and the second Uchiha Prodigy became best friends.


	17. Naruto, Jiraiya, and Ramen

Jiraiya and Naruto fluff + ramen = happy authoress

* * *

"She's so cute" Jiraiya said with a grin. "May I hold her?"

"Of coarse Sensei." Minato handed Naruto to his teacher. This is the first time he'd seen his godchild in almost eleven months. Naruto was a little under a year old and her birthday was in a week. "She doesn't talk much around people she hasn't met, and I don't think she remembers you."

She was so small and fragile with a short crop of spikey blond hair and large curious blue eyes. She looked so much like both of her parents aside from the whisker marks on her cheeks. She made little noises and put one of her pudgy hands on his nose.

"It looks like she likes you." Minato smiled at the two of them as Naruto began to pull on his lower lip and then his hair. She made some more incoherent baby sounds and giggled.

"I would hope so." Jiraiya said with a good natured smile. "It's almost laughable how much she looks like you."

"Yeah..." Minato said scratching his head. "So will you be staying for her birthday?"

"Well of coarse!" Jiraiya grinned. "As if I would miss my Goddaughters first birthday."

"Hokage-sama" An ANBU with straight brown hair and a mask resembling a cat, no older than twelve, said materializing in the door. "I apologize for the intrusion but your needed by the Elders."

"You go ahead and I'll keep an eye on Naruto" Jiraiya smiled down at the baby who smiled back.

"Okay, she's eating baby food now and it's in the cabinet above the sink. If she gets fussy reading to her usually helps. She's teething so make sure she doesn't put anything in her mouth she could choke on. She's walking too so make sure she doesn't trip and hurt herself. If you need to take her somewhere on foot her stroller is on the porch" He walked over and gave Naruto a kiss on her forehead. He waved at her by opening and closing his fist. "Bye bye, Naru-chan. Jiraiya-sensei is going to watch you for a bit, but I'll be back in a flash, okay."

"Bye bye!" Naruto chirped.

"Thank you so much, sensei" Minato said gratefully before disappearing.

Jiraiya set Naruto on the ground and she began to stumble around. He sat in front of the coffee table and began to write one of his novels. He giggled pervertedly and then felt someone tug on his sleeve.

"Whats up kiddo?" Jiraiya asked.

"Hungey" she said with a pout.

"How about we go out to eat?" He stood and picked Naruto up. "Think you could handle ramen? It was your mama's favorite."

Naruto tilted her head. "dattebayo?"

Jiraiya chuckled. "Well I know Ichiraku's is in the area and I can probably get you a small bowl with toppings your not going to choke on."

He picked Naruto up and carried her out to the stroller. It was a pretty nice day for early October, sun was out making the autumn leaves appear fiery. He pushed her in the stroller toward the little ramen stall.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's!" The man smiled from over the counter. He seemed friendly enough. "How can I help you sir?"

"Well I'd like something for her." He unbuckled Naruto and lifted her up so Teuchi could see her. She smiled and waved. "Something small with toppings she would be able to eat."

Teuchi smiled. He jotted down something on a notepad. "Alright, and for you?"

"Just a large pork miso, please." Jiraiya sat down on one of the stools with Naruto on his lap.

"Coming right up" Teuchi said with a smile.

"dank you!" Naruto chirped banging her tiny hand on the counter.

"What's on her cheeks? Did she draw on herself or something?" A little girl with long brown hair and dark eyes had climbed onto the stool next to Jiraiya. She seemed about six or seven.

"Ayame don't bother the customers." Teuchi commanded gently. "I'm sorry if my daughter was rude."

"Don't worry about it." Jiraiya smiled down at the little girl. "This is Naruto. No she didn't draw on her face, she was born with them."

"She's so cute!" Ayame giggled. "Hi there Naruto-chan"

Naruto babbled and stuck her fingers in her mouth. Ayame continued to fawn over her and Jiraiya was thinking back to one of his books.

"Okay, here you are." Teuchi set two bowls on the counter in front of them. "I cut the noodles into small pieces as well as the toppings for hers. I used to do the same thing for Ayame."

"Thank you" Jiraiya took a spoon gathered a bit of noodle and some broth and held it out in front of Naruto's mouth.

* * *

"Why wont she stop crying?" Obito asked frantically. "As soon as we tried to feed her she burst into tears!"

"Calm down Obito." Minato walked foreward and took the crying child out of Obito's arms. Minato rocked Naruto while bouncing slightly, something that usually helped. "What's wrong, sweetheart?"

"...ramen!..." she wailed.

Jiraiya cursed internally. Yes he'd seen the kid devour every drop of her ramen as well as most of the broth in his, but he didn't think she'd refuse other food.

"I might have an idea." Jiraiya said quietly. He walked into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with a sippy-cup. He looked at Naruto and handed her the cup.

Naruto looked a little dubious which was almost laughable on a baby's face. Slowly she put the top in her mouth and took a sip. Minato watched with a kind of confused curiosity as Naruto's eyes widened dramatically and she began to suck the sippy-cup dry.

"Jiraiya-sama, what did you put in the sippy-cup?" Rin asked as Naruto continued to guzzle it down.

"...chicken broth..."

"..."Rin

"..."Minato

"..."Obito

"..."Kakashi

Minato looked at his daughter who had almost drained the cup. "Is there something you need to tell me, sensei?"

Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head. "I took her to Ramen Ichiraku and I think she might be hooked. But hey kids go through phases where they really like a specific food, so I'm sure it'll pass."

* * *

Jiraiya would later come to eat those words as he treated her to her fourth bowl of pork miso. He'd said that since she entered the academy he would buy her as much as she wanted.

She was a little six year old girl, how the hell could she eat more than him!? And to top off all that she was smaller than most of the kids her age!

* * *

Then he ate them again as she slurped down another bowl next to her teammates (Jiraiya couldn't remember their names.) The kid with black hair sweat-dropped when she asked for another bowl, while the kid with the ponytail looked slightly horrified.

"Don't worry this is normal." Jiraiya assured ponytail patting his shoulder.

"It is?" He asked horrified to the Uchiha who just nodded.

"What?" Naruto asked turning toward them with a noodle still hanging out of her mouth. She pointed at her Uchiha friends bowl "You gonna eat that, dattebayo?"

* * *

Naruto had gotten bigger but her love for ramen remained unwavering, Jiraiya observed. He had resolved to treat her to ramen before she went on her mission to gather in tell on Orochimaru.

The entire time she talked about her previous mission to rescue the Kazekage between bites. He smiled at her enthusiasm that she definitely inherited from Kushina.

He ruffled her hair, saying something about her being adorable, and she glared at him

* * *

Jiraiya had told Naruto that they would go out for Ramen when he came back to the village.

As he used chakra to carve the code onto Fukasaku's back he knew he wouldn't be able too. He knew he was about to die and he desperately hoped she would forgive him. Jiraiya also hoped that Naruto would still think of him when she ate ramen.

And thing is, she did and she always would.


	18. Men in strange cloaks

Authors Note: Okay this chapter contains an Akatsuki OC. Since Itachi never killed the clan and became a missing nin I needed a replacement as Kisame's partner. I tried to find an actual character from the series, but none of them really worked. So I came up with Hamono. His name translates to "Cold Steel" which I think fits because he's got the Steel Release Kekkei Genkai. Yes this is an actual thing and you can look it up (though it only appeared in a movie). So yeah. Hopefully he's not a marty-stue.

* * *

The silence was broken with a knock on the door. Naruto put her hair brush on the bed side table and got up. Her hair was still damp from her shower and she was wearing a black tank top and a pair of orange Capri pants.

She pulled open the door muttering some creative words directed at her Godfather, who had ditched her in their hotel room to do 'Research'. She was going to kill him for this...

When the door opened she wasn't met with the familiar sight of white hair and red facial markings. She was met with two men in strange cloaks. One of them had a hidden mist headband and the other had a hidden stone. Both had a slash through the village symbol. One of them had blue skin. Naruto froze.

"Hard to believe something so puny contains the Kyubi." The blue man said in a bored tone.

'_How did they know about that?_' she wondered.

The shorter man glanced down at her with light gray eyes surrounded by heavy bags, like he hadn't slept in days. "Come with us...Naruto"

She flinched slightly at the mention of her name. How did they know these things about her? Who were these guys? Whoever they were one thing was for sure: they didn't seem like good news.

She had a very strong urge to slam the door and get out through the window. Her gut told her that she probably wouldn't get far if tried.

She slowly took a step foreward, then another, until she was standing in the hall. Being a good ninja meant not letting fear stop you. Besides she might be able to make a break for it later.

"Let's go for a walk, shall we?" The shorter man put a hand on her shoulder. Naruto almost flinched.

"Hamono wouldn't it be a pain if she tried to make a break for it?" The blue man smirked sadistically and put his hand on the large bandaged sword he wore on his back. "It would probably be easier if I were to slice off one of her legs."

Naruto's eyes got bigger and she took a step back.

"Your going to stay the hell away from her, you bastard!"

All three of them turned. Umehito stood holding a katana in hand, looking more furious than Naruto had ever seen him.

"I refuse to let you lay so much as a hand on my comrade!" He growled venemously "I will stop you, Kisame-senpai"

"Senpai?" The man asked. "I take it you were one of the brats I helped train. Umehito, was it? You've lost your baby fat"

"What do you want with Naruto?" He asked in a steely calm voice.

"Kisame, would you mind dealing with him?" Hamono asked in a bored tone. "We really should be going soon."

Umehito fell into a fighting stance and Naruto watched in horror. This guy was twice Umehito's size and about ten times more twisted.

"Certainly" The man named Kisame said with a sharkish grin, that was eerily similar to Umehito's . "I would like to see how the brat has improved. Maybe he'll be able to put up a good fight before I cut him down "

"U-Umehito!" Naruto shrieked in shock. She tried to take a step forward but the other man simply grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her backwards.

"I wouldn't interfere, Naruto." He said coldly. "It would be annoying to have to severely injure you but I can promise that we aren't above that."

Umehito ran at Kisame with his sword above his head. Kisame grinned and pulled the bandaged sword off his back. Umehito slid on the polished wood of the hallway ducking under the large sword. From there he ran strait for Hamono.

The man responded by grabbing Naruto's arm and throwing her into the nearest wall. She landed with a crash and her vision blurred from the hit her head had taken.

Umehito roared and prepared to bring the katana down on the mans throat. Hamono didn't even blink he just held up his hand to block the sword. Naruto thought for sure he was going to lose his hand. Then his hand turned black and the second the blade collided with it, it shattered like glass.

Umehito's eyes widened in shock "What the he-"

He was cut off by Hamono grabbing his wrist and twisting it sharply causing Umehito to yelp. Then he slammed his black fist into Umehito's gut. There was a cracking sound that had no doubt come from a rib breaking and Umehito screamed. He skidded into the wall opposite Naruto and coughed up blood.

Hamono walked slowly foreward and brought his foot down on Umehito's ankle with a sickening snap. Umehito shrieked again.

Hamono set his foot on Umehito's throat and added weight. Umehito clawed at the man's ankle in a desperate attempt to get air.

"Pity" Hamono said coldly, putting a little more pressure on his throat. "You should have left well enough alone. Now I'm going to have to end you. It's a shame too. You seemed to have even a little potential. I suppose it can't be helped."

"I suggest you step away from him" Hamono turned. Standing at the end of the hall was a young man. He wore a high collared black shirt that perfectly matched his long ponytailed hair. His eyes were onyx in color and he had two marks along either side of his nose.

"Itachi?" Naruto asked, shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"I was visiting in Konoha when I noticed something was off." Itachi activated his sharingan. "I assume your the ones who put my little brother and his sensei in the hospital? Your sorely mistaken if you think that I will sit idly while you threaten people from my village."

"You must be an Uchiha then." Hamono stepped away from Umehito who lay on the ground in a crumpled heap. "I can believe that the spiky haired idiot from earlier was your brother. He looks just like you."

Itachi's blood colored gaze hardened. Naruto grimaced internally. She knew Itachi was a pacifist by nature, but this guy had just admitted to injuring Sasuke. No way Itachi would let that slide.

Hamono stiffened, then fell face first onto the floor. Naruto could see a tiny bit of drool dribble from his gaping mouth.

"If you don't wish to end up like him I suggest you leave" Itachi said looking directly at Kisame. "Because I'm feeling somewhat benevolent I'll allow you a ten second head start. One...Two..."

Kisame could tell when he was in over his head. This man could expertly wield genjutsu. Well enough to catch a member of the Akatsuki off guard.

"If we ever meet again" Kisame walked over and tossed Hamono over one of his large shoulders. He glared at Itachi with his beady little eyes. "Well you had better hope that we don't"

He vanished.

Naruto scurried over to Umehito and held his head on her lap, ignoring the blood dribbling from his mouth onto her pants. Jiraiya ran into the hallway. "What the hell happened?"

"There were these guys and they-they wanted to-I'm not sure what they wanted b-but one of them wanted to cut off my l-leg and-and-and-" Naruto began to shake and cry at the site of Umehito's limp body. "Umehito he-he tried to help me..."

Jiraiya quietly made his way over and crouched in front of Umehito and Naruto. Jiraiya carefully checked him over. "Well it's not fatal, but he needs medical attention. He's got at least two broken ribs and his wrist is fractured in several places. There are a bunch of broken bones in his left leg. He's lucky his larynx wasn't totally crushed...Itachi, you wouldn't happen to know medical ninjutsu?"

"I don't" Itachi admitted. "But I can bring him back to the leaf village for medical treatment."

He walked over and gently lifted Umehito up. He whimpered. His eyes opened slightly and he managed to croak "Is...she...okay...?"

"Naruto is fine." Itachi assured him. "You shouldn't talk, though. Just rest for now."

Umehito nodded slightly and slumped against Itachi. Naruto walked over to him, tears still running down her cheeks. "I swear to god Umehito, if you ever do something so reckless again I'll kill you, dattebayo."

He offered her a small bloodstained smile.

"Those men were Akatsuki" Itachi said quietly. "There are six to eight more of them, though I've only had a run-in with two of them. The organization consists of high ranking criminals."

"You had a run in with them before?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. I was in a tea house and this idiotic blond tried to pick a fight." Itachi said with a pensive expression. "He used explosives and spoke strangely. Before things could get too serious his partner dragged him off. They were wearing the exact same cloaks as those other guys."

"You take Umehito and I'll keep an eye out for them." Jiraiya said quietly. "We're still looking for Tsunade."

"I see." Itachi said. He looked down at Naruto. "It was nice to see you again, though I wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"You too Itachi." Naruto said with a nod. She turned her attention back to Umehito. "Be okay, will you?"

He nodded. Naruto kissed his cheek in an almost motherly fashion. Umehito smiled slightly.

"Take care of him okay?" Naruto said to Itachi who nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. She then turned to Jiraiya. "You need to help me get stronger."

"I agree." Jiraiya folded his arms over his chest.

"I just stood there while Umehito could have been killed." Naruto wiped the last of the tears away with the heal of her hand. "I need to get strong so I won't let that happen again. Next time I will protect him"

"I understand." Jiraiya nodded. He decided that now would as good a time as any. "I'm guessing you've heard your father mention the rasengan..."

* * *

I wanted some Itachi-ish goodness. *inhuman noises*


	19. White Snow and Demon Tears

Gato pulled his foot back and kicked Haku in the face. "heh. I only wish he were alive to feel it."

"Get away from him you scum!" Naruto bagan to charge forward, only stopping when Kakashi grabbed the back of her jacket and held her back.

"You need to calm down" Kakashi scolded.

"Well how about you?!" Naruto yelled at Zabuza. "Are you going to just let him do that?"

"shut it you fool."Zabuza said in a steely tone. "Haku's dead, what does it matter."

"But you two were together for years!" Naruto shot back. "Can you seriously just watch while he gets treated like a dog?!"

Zabuza scoffed "Clearly you don't understand the way of the Shinobi. I was using Haku like Gato used me. His usefulness is at an end. The loss of his strength and skill, that means something to me. But the boy himself? Nothing."

"Calm down, Naruto he's not the enemy, not now." Kakashi stated putting a hand on her shoulder as Naruto's breath came out in short huffs.

Naruto shook it off. "As far as I'm concerned he's the worst!"

Naruto looked from Zabuza to the corpse of Haku. Her hands clenched into fists. "How dare you! You were the most important thing in the world to him! Are you just going to let him lie there like that!?"

Zabuza didn't face her. "Shut up, brat."

"NO!" Naruto shrieked. "He gave everything for you! Yet all this time you were just using him! How dare you! You ungrateful bastard!"

Zabuza remained still.

"He never got to have a dream of his own but he didn't care. He just wanted to see you safe and happy! He was sacrificing everything for you and he meant nothing to you?!" Naruto was panting now. She bit down on her lip. "If I become strong will I become as cold as you? Haku lived for you! And... You just toss him aside... A broken tool...It's just so wrong."

"You talk too much"

Naruto lifted her head, tears spilling from her eyes. Zabuza was still but slowly drops began to hit the ground. The Demon of The Bloody Mist was crying.

"Your words cut deeper than any blade." Zabuza said quietly. "While he was fighting you, his heart was breaking. He was too kind for this life. He felt sorrow and pain, and now curse him I feel it too."

Naruto was gaping. '_he cares...'_ she thought. Zabuza took the bandages off his face with his teeth.

"Are you so surprised to see that I'm human?" Zabuza said with a small smile. "Every shinobi is human despite how much that fact annoys us. Give me a kunai, girl."

Naruto hesitated for a moment, but in the end she pulled a kunai and tossed it to him. He caught it deftly in his teeth and then charged Gato and his army head on.

A blood bath ensued. Even without the use of his arms he lived up to his moniker. He really must have seemed like some kind of demon as he cut the men down mercilessly. He'd been stabbed multiple times and the weapons still stuck out of his back by the time he got to Gato.

After saying something Naruto couldn't make out he slashed Gato several times and then threw him off the bridge and into the sea below.

Now the mob had been confused. Who would pay them now? They made the decision to loot the village and see what they could take from it.

The arrival of the armed villagers ensured that they didn't go far. They ran like rats for the boat that had been docked near by and took off as fast as they could.

Naruto then saw Zabuza stumble forward, his eyes locked on Haku's body, a pained look on his face. He would have fallen had Naruto not run at him with a speed comparable to the Yellow Flash and caught him.

He looked down at the twelve year old girl who hardly came up to his chest, surprise written on his features. Naruto set her face in a determined expression that made her seem older than she was "I can take you to him, dattebayo. Just hold on."

She began to pull the weapons out of his back one by one. Then when they lay in a bloody heap she half carried him back to Haku. Kakashi lowered his headband over his sharingan. This fight was over.

Naruto staggered a little under his weight. Zabuza was much bigger than her but she was determined to see that he got to Haku. He deserved this much.

Carefully she set him on the ground next to Haku. Zabuza smiled slightly at her as the tears ran down her face. "Thank you...Naruto"

Naruto just nodded.

Light fluffy snow began to gently rain from the sky.

"Is it you, Haku? Are you weeping?" Zabuza wondered out loud. "You were always at my side. The least I can do is to be beside you at the end. "

Zabuza's hand slowly and shakily moved so it was resting on Haku's face. "I know I cannot be, but I wish I could go to where you have gone...How I wish I could join you there...Haku..."

Naruto stood there, shuddering with silent sobs as Zabuza took his last breaths.

'_I hope you get to go there with him._'

.:::*later*:::.

Two graves stood overlooking the ocean on a cliffside. Team seven stood with there eyes closed and their heads bowed.

Sasuke had sufficiently healed from all the senbon he'd been hit with, Umehito was standing again after the chakra exhaustion that happened when he's healed Sasuke.

Then Naruto stepped forward, a small bundle of wildflowers in each hand tied with white ribbon. She set the flowers on the foot of each grave.

"Thank you, Zabuza and Haku."

* * *

About the whole Naruto supporting Zabuza thing, remember that she may be twelve but she is a shinobi. She's obviously stronger than the average twelve year old. She did struggle, but she's also a stubborn, determined little shit. I just thought it would be a refreshing change to this scene, kay?

*snif* rest in peace Zabuza and Haku. I lub you. *rolls into the setting sun*


	20. Jiji to Sensei

"Jiraiya-jiji!" A hyperactive blond five year old glomped a certain Sannin. Jiraiya scooped her up and set Naruto on his hip. She wrapped her skinny little arms around his neck. "I missed you, dattebayo!"

"I missed you too, sweet heart." Jiraiya stated fondly. He turned toward Minato. "Your still going to call me that, huh?"

"Yep!" She chirped. "'cause your super duper old and your hair is white."

He lifted her under the armpits so she was in both arms and directly in front of him. "I figured you would go and call those old bats on the council Jiji or something."

"But those guys are weird, mean, scary, and they smell like cheese!"

Minato's hand connected with his face and Jiraiya chuckled. He set Naruto on the ground again. "Well how about I start teaching you things while I'm here so you can call me sensei like your dad does?"

"Yeah!" She yelled enthusiastically. She ran toward Minato and grabbed his hands before jumping up and down several times "Can I learn with Jiraiya-jiji! Can I, Can, I Can I?"

"Yes, but don't give him any trouble" Minato ruffled her poofy blond hair. He looked over at Jiraiya. "I'll be in my office if you need me. Feel free to use any of the training grounds"

"Yay!" Naruto hugged Minato tightly, even though she hardly came up to his waist.

..::*the training*::..

"First off we should probably do something about your hair." Jiraiya informed Naruto.

She looked confused. "My hair? What's wrong with it?"

"For one if it gets in your eyes it will probably make it harder for you to see. When your in battle this isn't something you can afford." He sat down next to her. "I have a solution though."

"What is it?" She asked curiously.

Jiraiya held up a hair tie. "I suggest putting it in a ponytail. At least for missions and such. That's what your mother used to do."

"Really?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya nodded and the next thing he knew the hair tie was in Naruto's hand. She gathered her hair into a rather sloppy ponytail but that was probably to be expected since she was only five.

"Okay, Naruto." Jiraiya looked her over. "What can you tell me about Chakra?"

"Well catra is-"

"You mean chakra" Jiraiya corrected.

Naruto rolled her eyes. "That's what I said sensei. Anyway Chakra is physical and spirutal energy that circulates through the body and makes it possible to preform jutsu."

"Good. So you know a little about it. How about hand seals?"

"Uh..." She looked as though she was in deep thought. Then a metaphorical lightbulb appeared. "Oh they're named after the zodiac animals. Other than that...I got nothin, dattebayo"

Over the next hour the two of them went over all the hand seals. If you were going just on appearence it was eerily similar to when he was teaching these things to Minato. Difference was, where Minato was quiet and respectful, Naruto was not.

Even with the short amount of time he'd spent with his goddaughter it was evident she was just like Kushina.

"Okay how about we work on some chakra control, okay?" Jiraiya proposed. Naruto looked up at him, confusion flickering across her features. "We'll just work on channeling chakra to specific parts of your body. I'm sure you've seen someone walk up a wall before, right?"

"Dad and my big brothers and sister do it all the time" She chirped. Her face split into a huge grin. "Are you going to teach me that!?"

"Calm down!" He said holding out his hands. "I'm not teaching you that yet. I'm teaching you this."

Jiraiya picked a fallen leaf up off the ground and put it on his cheek with his chakra. He put the leaf on Naruto's forehead. "Hold that there as long as you can by focusing chakra to that area, got it?"

"Yep." Naruto said with a determined expression. Jiraiya moved his hand and the leaf stuck to her head.

He noticed that she was turning red, then a bluish color. Then Naruto's eyes rolled back and she fell backwards onto the grass. Jiraiya face-palmed. "Your allowed to breathe, Naruto..."

* * *

Jiraiya walked into the Hokage's office with a semi-conscious Naruto in his arms. Minato got up and picked her up. "So I take it it went well?"

"She's got some serious chakra reserves." Jiraiya said ruffling her hair as she burrowed her head into Minato's shoulder. "She should probably build those up soon. She kinda over exerted herself, but she should be fine after a good nights sleep."

"Okay." Minato smiled at Jiraiya. "Thank you, sensei. This ment a lot to her I'm sure."

"I'm glad." Jiraiya said with a grin. "I'm going to head out tonight so tell her I said bye and that she did good."

"I will." Minato said with a nod.

Naruto lifted her head and turned toward Jiraiya with slightly unfocused eyes and a big smile. "Thanks Jiraiya-sensei. I hope we can train again."

She yawned and went back to resting her head on her fathers shoulder.

Jiraiya smiled at that. "I hope so too, kiddo."

* * *

DROWNING IN FLUFFINESS


	21. Am I the monster?

Naruto ran down the hall and threw her Father's bedroom door open. Minato sat up abruptly and his hand immediately went to the kunai under his pillow. When the haze of sleep lifted enough to see it was his five year old daughter he put it back.

"What's wrong, honey?" He asked drowsily.

"Bad dream" she said tearfully. "it was really scary..."

He went to the edge of the bed and held his arms out for her. She climbed into them and he set her on his lap. "Do you need to talk about it."

Naruto nodded. "I was in a place with water on the ground and there was a big cage, dattebayo. There was a big fox inside it, with too many tails. It said that he wanted to come out and that he didn't like being in something so small. I don't get what he meant the cage was humongus. He said if he wasn't sealed he would destroy things. Then I woke up...I'm scared, daddy"

Minato froze. Was the seal weakening? "Naruto, sweet heart, can I see your tummy real quick?"

She looked confused but lifted her night shirt just the same.

Minato applied chakra to the area and the seal appeared. It was as he feared, it seemed to have been slightly weakened.

He carefully adjusted the seal so it ws back in place. Minato smiled at Naruto. "Don't worry, that should keep the mean Fox from bothering you."

"Daddy?" Naruto asked.

Minato smiled slightly. "Yes, Naruto-chan?"

" What's a Kyubi no Kitsune? Why did the fox call himself that?" She asked with an innocence only five year olds can pull off.

"C'mere" He set her on his lap again.

"You know how every year on your birthday the village hosts a festival, but we never attend?" He asked. Naruto nodded. Minato sighed. He knew this conversation was bound to happen and he was dreading it. "The festival is to celebrate the defeat of the Kyubi. On the day of your birth the Kyubi attacked the village. It likely would have destroyed everything if the Sandaime hadn't stopped it."

"So it died, dattebayo?" Naruto asked tilting her head.

"No. Biiju can't die, not really." Minato frowned. "But one way you can stop them is by sealing them into a person. The people holding Biiju are called Jinchuriki. Naruto the reason the fox was defeated is because the Sandaime sealed it within you. You are the Kyubi Jinchuriki, Naruto"

"So the scary monster I saw in my dream is inside of me?" Naruto whimpered and started to cry. "Does that mean I'm the monster?!"

Minato didn't hesitate to pull Naruto into a hug. "Your not the fox. Your the hero who is holding the fox back and protecting everyone."

"Can it hurt me?" She asked with a sniff.

"As long as I'm able to maintain the seal, that shouldn't be an issue" Minato ran a hand over her hair. "I won't let him hurt you."

She nodded.

"Your Mother was the Kyubi Jinchuriki before you, you know." Minato said quietly. Naruto looked up at him. He kissed her head and continued. "She came from the Uzumaki clan, who are known for their talent for seals and incredible chakra. When she was a little girl the Kyubi was sealed into her. Hiruzen-sama based your seal on her's and he knew he could do it because he knew you were strong just like your mother"

"Really?" Naruto asked with wide wonder filled eyes.

"Yes" Minato chuckled. He settled himself and Naruto under the covers. "Just let me know if he bothers you again."

Naruto fell asleep with a tiny smile. She was a hero. Just like her mother.


	22. Our Imouto

Team Minato, bitches!

* * *

Kakashi, Obito, and Rin made there way to Minato's house. Rin held a bowl of fresh dumplings. Obito was walking along next to Rin. Kakashi was giving an intense one-eyed glare to anyone who dared gawk at his teammate.

Despite Obito constantly reminding him that the cave-in incident and capture by Iwa that had almost killed him a year and a half ago wasn't his fault, Kakashi still felt seriously guilty. The fact Obito was too stubborn to take the sharingan back and his clan disowned him, was salt in the wound. Obito's entire right side was scarred, especially his face. He also wore an eyepatch to conceal the empty socket that used to hold his left eye.

Kakashi had been told that wasn't his fault, but he didn't like it when people stared at Obito.

The fourteen year old Jounin was brooding a little when Rin broke the tension. Bless her. "Wow Kakashi, these smell really good. I bet they'll be great"

Out of everyone on their team Kakashi was really the only one who knew what he was doing in the kitchen. Rin could make medicinal creams and a few flavorless dishes. Before marrying Kushina, sensei's diet consisted of takeout and pre-made meals. And Obito...well he managed to burn soup.

"I hope so." Kakashi shrugged. "I noticed Kushina-san has been kinda weird lately..."

"I know what you mean" Obito said. "Yesterday I was walking past Sensei's house and I heard her yelling something along the lines of 'IF I DON'T GET COFFEE I AM GOING TO KILL SOMETHING, 'TTEBANE!'"

"I thought she hated coffee" Rin said frowning slightly. Something struck her, but there was no way in hell she was going to talk about that in front of her two MALE team mates.

"Rin, what do you think might be going on?" Kakashi asked.

_Crap, crap, **crap.** _Rin looked down and muttered something.

"What?" Obito asked.

Rin mumbled again.

"What the hell does punctuation have to do with anything"

Kakashi slammed his hand into his face, then Obito connected the dots. He blushed furiously and focused on his feet.

"Well the book I'm reading say's that mood swings are common during...you know." Kakashi said with a pensive expression.

"What book?" Rin asked slightly alarmed.

Kakashi dug something out of his pocket. It was a small orange book and the words Icha Icha Paradise were written on the cover. Rin turned white. "Isn't that an erotic novel?"

"Maa, specifically it's an adventure romance novel for people over eighteen, I like it" Kakashi said with an eye smile. Rin hadn't the foggiest idea how her teammate, still being a minor, had gotten his hands on an adult novel.

"Oh I've heard of those." Obito said with a smile of his own. "Do you think you could lend me your copy when your done?"

Rin thought she was going to die by the time they got to Minato's house. They literally talked about the porn books the entire walk. She was happy the two of them were getting along, finally, but did they have to bond over that?

Kushina answered the door. She was wearing dark Capri pants and a very baggy shirt. "Hello, guys. Come in, dinner's going to be ready soon"

The three of them made their way into the house.

Minato was setting the table and he grinned over at his students. "We've got some seriously good news, you guys"

"What is it Sensei?" Rin asked as she set the dumplings on the table.

"We'll tell you after we start eating, 'ttebane." Kushina said walking out with a salad bowl in one hand and a chicken in the other.

Ten minutes into the meal Kushina grinned brightly. "Minato and I are going to be parents! I'm due in October"

"Oh my god!" Rin shrieked happily. "Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?"

"The doctors say it's going to be a boy and we're coming up with names now." Minato smiled and rested his hand on Kushina's stomach. "I can't wait to meet him."

"Congratulations, sensei, Kushina. You will be great parents. " Kakashi said with an eye smile.

Yep" Obito grinned. "I wonder who he's going to look like."

Kushina grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "For his sake I hope he takes after his father."

Minato kissed her cheek "He'll be wonderful no matter what he looks like. Besides it would be nice to have a mini-Kushina running around"

She punched him lightly in the arm.

* * *

Kakashi had arrived too late. He couldn't help but think this as he held his sensei's tiny infant daughter in his arms. Kushina, Minato, and Hiruzen Sarutobi were sprawled on the grass.

Obito was helping Rin stabilize Minato for transport to the hospital, he'd survived. Kushina let out a low moan and Obito helped her sit up as Rin continued to work on their sensei.

"T-turns out it was a girl" Kushina said as blood trickled down her chin. "She looks like her father doesn't she? She's beautiful...I really wish I could have seen her grow up, ttebane...

"I-I don't think I'm going to make it, guys..." Kushina muttered. "If Minato doesn't survive, I want you to look out for my baby. Promise me."

Obito was crying with his one good eye and so was Kakashi. The silver haired Jounin nodded. "I promise, Kushina. We all do."

She smiled. But it wasn't one of her large earth shattering grins that made you feel better if you just looked at it. This smile was small, yet filled with gratitude. "Thank you..."

Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze died within a few minutes.

* * *

All three of them really grew to love Minato and Kushina's little girl. Her smile was every bit as vibrant as her mothers and was almost like sunshine.

She was a sweet child and had good intentions but she didn't have many friends. Naruto tried to, she really did. But the other kids were either spoon fed reasons to hate her from their parents, or they were intimidated by who her father was.

The adults didn't like her very much no matter how nice or polite Naruto was. Minato asked his students if they could keep an eye out for her when she went out. That wouldn't be too hard. As long as the any of them didn't have any missions they would always take her around the village or to the park.

When she was four, almost five, she was told to leave a store. Obito asked why, stating Naruto had only just set foot inside.

"We have a right to refuse service and I won't do business with her kind" The man said with a glare in Naruto's general direction.

"My kind?" Naruto asked from her spot on Kakashi's shoulders.

"Just get out of my store, freak" He spat.

Naruto began to cry. Obito took a step foreward, his sharingan activating unconsciously. Rin grabbed his arm, halting him before he did something violent.

She turned so she was facing Obito, Kakashi, and Naruto. Then in a rather calm voice with a small smile on her face said. "Why don't you take Naru-chan and get some ice-cream? I'm just going to have a little chat with this man."

Kakashi and Obito both knew that voice well. Therefore they knew to get the hell out of dodge ASAP.

Once they had arrived at the ice-cream cart down the street they heard the sound of shrieking, crying, broken glass, and muffled pleas for mercy.

Obito who was drying Naruto's cheeks smirked inwardly. No one messed with Team Yondaime's Imouto.

Rin walked down the street, seemingly the picture of innocence. Kakashi shuddered. Obito had anime heart-eyes at how bad ass his girlfriend could be. Naruto didn't really register what had happened.

* * *

The night before Naruto was to start at the academy her honorary siblings came bearing gifts.

Rin handed her a beginners first aid kit as well as an orange ribbon for her hair. Kakashi gave her a set of blunted kunai and a set of training weights.

Naruto seemed to like Obito's gift best. He gave her a pair of his old goggles. He'd had the lenses replaced and the frames reinforced and Naruto seemed ecstatic.

They all shared a smile at the sight of the bubbly little girl practically dragging Minato, a ninja registered as _'Flee on sight'_ in bingo books, toward the academy. The goggles firmly set on her forehead, orange ribbon waving in the breeze, training weights on her legs.

But somewhere in each of their hearts they couldn't help but feel just a little sad. Their Imouto was growing up faster than they wanted.

* * *

Minato, Kakashi, Rin, and Obito had tried to convince Naruto multiple times that orange was not a good color for a ninja. Unfortunately for them she had inherited her mother's stubbornness.

Most of the time that's what you would see. A blur of orange with lots of blond hair. She'd inherited Minato's speed and could even work the Hirashin (not as well though). At twelve years old she was already making dozens of well functioning shadow clones.

Minato could see her chakra reserves were much to large for regular clones. So he showed her how to create shadow clones. It took her around four tries to perfect the technique and soon she could make multiple ones. Needless to say she passed the Academy's final exam with flying colors.

Minato placed her on Kakashi's genin team for a few reasons. The first being is that he trusted Kakashi and the second is he had an idea of what to do if something went wrong with the Kyubi

Kakashi thought Minato-sensei did a good job with the kids he placed on Naruto's team. There was Sasuke Uchiha, Umehito Suzuki, and Naruto. Kakashi figured this was to create balance between the three of them.

Sasuke was clearly a prodigy, but he was also arrogant and didn't work well with others. Naruto was a fast learner and was eager to please, but she also had some serious impulse control issues. Umehito had the best written grades in the class and impressive chakra control, but he also hardly socialized.

If Minato's thinking was correct they could help each other. Naruto and Umehito could get Sasuke to work with others. Umehito and Sasuke could help keep Naruto in line. Sasuke and Naruto would hopefully be able to crack Umehito's shell.

* * *

Obito, Kakashi, and Rin had been told about the training trip with Jiraiya, though somewhere in their hearts they secretly hoped she might reconsider.

Naruto was already on her way to becoming a great Kunoichi. She was the one who saved her friends from the Sand's Jinchuriki and then made friends with him. She helped convince Tsunade-sama to come back. She learned her father's best jutsu in a week. She was...

growing up.

They had accepted this fact but they didn't have to like it.

* * *

As a big sister I can say for a fact how much it sucks knowing your siblings wont be tiny and innocent forever.

Also I might be posting an Obito-centric one-shot about his near death experience. So look out for that.


	23. Do you hate me now?

Fukasaku held still, despite words being burned into his back with Chakra. He owed Jiraiya-boy this much.

_'Naruto. I leave the rest to you'_

The stone Jiraiya was on exploded when hit with all those missiles from one of the Peins. He began to sink deep into the water.

_'The frog at the bottom of the well drifts off into the great ocean. Heh heh… yep… pretty damn honourable… pretty damn honourable… I guess it's time to put down my pen. Right… I need a title for the next book… let's see… Ah, got it… 'The Tale of Naruto Namikaze'… Perfect'_

Jiraiya the Gallant died with a smile on his face.

* * *

Umehito watched in horror as the Pein with the long hair put his hand on the top of Sasuke's head.

"Do not move or he dies" Pein said in monotone.

Ino, Inoichi, the Anbu present all shared in this terror. Twice now Umehito and Sasuke had seen this one pull the souls clean out of peoples bodies like this.

"Damn it." Inoichi hissed

Sasuke gritted his teeth, Umehito could feel his heart in his throat. Ino's eyes widened.

Then Sasuke's lips arranged themselves into a smirk. "Your wasting your time. You have about as much chance of finding her as a snowball in Suna"

"Mount Myoboko" He said flatly.

Sasuke made a small noise. It wasn't noticed by the shinobi on the ground. Ino backpedaled "B-but that's my fathers jutsu. How-"

The Pein moved his hand up, pulling Sasuke's now almost tangible soul up with it. Sasuke's onyx orbs rolled back into his head, then with a final tug, his soul and his body separated. _'I'm sorry, Naruto'_

He fell forward and hit the ground unceremoniously. Umehito ran forward "SASUKE!"

Umehito had chakra gathered into his hands in preparation, hoping somehow he could save him. He had to try. He couldn't just let him lie there.

"He's dead, Umehito" Inoichi said quietly.

"Damn it all" Umehito mumbled.

* * *

Kakashi knew what he was about to do. He knew what the consequences would be.

The information had to get to Minato, no matter what. If this was the only way then so be it.

He activated Obito's gift and directed the Kamui at the missile tailing Choji. It disappeared and Choji was safe. The information would now get to Minato-sensei.

Kakashi breathed heavily and his sharingan started to close.

As if he were under water he could hear Rin, as she started to sob and frantically dig him out. She was begging him to keep living.

"S-sorry..." he managed to whisper, before his eye shut completely and he began to fade.

_'I'm sorry I wasn't a better friend. A better student. A better teacher. A better brother. A better son. I hope you all can forgive me'_

Minato received the information from Choji, then he was told by Tsunade about Kakashi. Only she and the few Anbu present saw the tears that left the Yondaime's eyes, before he hastily wiped his face.

* * *

Naruto couldn't move. Pein walked around so he was in front of her. "I've avoided vital spots and I have kept them shallow. But you will no longer be able to move on your own. I think it's time we were on our way."

Hinata came out of no where and just barely missed Pein.

"I'm not going to let you hurt Naruto any more!" Hinata yelled.

"Just run!" Naruto yelled, knowing that if Hinata stayed she would be cut down like a weed. That was not something that she wished to see. "You can't win, just go!"

"No" Hinata said defiantly. "I- I'm just being selfish now."

Naruto looked up at her long time friend. "The hells that supposed to mean?"

"I'm here because I want to be." Hinata asserted. "This time I'm going to save you. You have helped me so much for so long. Your smile, your confidence, and your determination have continuously inspired me to be a better person and ninja. Your like a sister to me. Naruto.

"And that's why I am not afraid to die here, if it means I can protect you." Hinata smiled faintly. "I love you, Naruto. It's just what sisters do"

Hinata assumed a stance. A rod shot out of Pein's sleave and he gripped it. Then Hinata turned sharply and kicked one of the rods, shattering it. When she tried to repeat this she was flung to the side forcefully and she tumbled over and over until she came to a halt.

Naruto was hoping she would stay down. But Hinata got up and ran for Naruto, right for the rods again. She was repelled yet again.

"Hinata!" Naruto screeched. Pein stepped in between them, in order to prevent another attempt to break the rods.

Blood dripped down her face and Chakra made her hands glow as though they were engulfed in blue flame. Then it looked as if they were alive. "Gentle step: Twin Lion Fists!"

Hinata engaged Pein one on one. He dodged he hits fluidly, but Hinata kept coming. She finally managed to land a hit and in the moment he was distracted she came at Naruto and demolished a rod. She retracted her hand and prepared to let it fly at another one.

Pein caught her in her jutsu and threw her into the air, where she came down like a rag doll filled with sand.

"HINATA!" Naruto yelled "DAMNIT! GET UP! HINATA OPEN YOUR EYES PLEASE!"

After a few minutes of increasingly desperate pleas Hinata did open her eyes and began to slowly make her way toward Naruto. She was obviously in pain and struggling to walk, but she kept going.

"Please, Hinata, go. Please" Naruto just about whimpered.

Hinata had to crawl the last few feet, but she did reach Naruto.

Pein had been watching with a kind of fascination. "Why would someone as weak as you, try to resist?"

"Because. I'll never go back on my word" Hinata said wrapping her hands around the rod in Naruto's hands "Because, that's my nindo, my ninja way."

Naruto gaped. Hinata smiled at her briefly before flying through the air again, higher and higher, before Pein brought her down hard and then stabbed her.

_**"Do you hate me now?"**_


	24. Hero's come back

Three kids and an adult stood in the Hokage's office and watched the daimyo's wife hand Minato a stack of bills and smother a cat.

A boy with spiky brown hair and long blue scarf growled. He was seriously scratched up, at the hands of the cat the lady was fawning over. "If that lady were my owner I'd run for the hills too..."

His sensei was a former member of the Uchiha clan. He wore an eyepatch and the right side of his face was scared. Obito promptly smacked the boy upside the head. "Shut up, Konohamaru."

The lady walked out with the cat.

"It was a simple case of a missing cat." Obito said glancing at his students. "Why the hell did you guys take so long?"

"That cat had to be faster then lightning." Konohamaru grumbled

"It's kind of evil." said Udon with a sniff.

"It's almost like it's run off before" Moegi added.

Obito bit his tongue about how Tora the cat was a kind of initiation ritual for genin. Instead he sighed. "Still be a little faster next time, kay? Missions like this need speed and precision"

"Yes, Obito-sensei" they chorused.

"You need more training." Obito said with a small smile.

Konohamaru glared and crossed his arms. "Well how am I supposed to push my limits on lame missions like this one. Isn't there anything better?"

"You only just made genin" Obito said trying not to roll his eyes. "No one is going to give you guys higher missions right off the bat."

"That's right." Minato said. "For now you'll be tackling D-ranks."

Konohamaru sat on the ground. "I'm not taking no for an answer. After all your talking to the Shichidaime (seventh) Hokage"

Minato glanced over at Konohamaru. "What about the sixth?"

Konohamaru grinned. "That spot's taken. Naruto-Nee-chan is going to get it."

He was met with silence from everyone in the room.

A blond teenage kunoichi walked through the village gates a few paces ahead of a man with long white hair. The girl was named Naruto Namikaze and she was the current Jinchuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune. The White haired man was Jiraiya, a best selling author and one of the Sannin.

Many hardly recognised her at first glance. Over the two and a half years she spent training it was evident she'd really grown.

Her hair was longer and now reached to about her waist, even when gathered into the high ponytail she wore. The clothes she used to wear consisted of an orange and blue jacket with dark blue shorts and a black apron-skirt. Her outfit now was a black and orange jacket, a black tank top, and a pair of loose orange shorts that reached her knees.

She wondered what had happened to her family and friends while she was away. When she left her father had just been reinstated as Hokage and Tsunade was running the hospital. Umehito was training under the Slug Queen. Sasuke was working on his genjutsu and kenjutsu. He was also studying under Orochimaru's former student, Anko Mitarashi.

Naruto had to see something. She dropped her pack on the ground and ran up a wall until she was perched on a roof. She beamed at her home. "Man this place hasn't changed at all, dattebayo!"

Jiraiya smiled.

"Sensei, look!" she yelled down. "They added Tsunade Baa-chan's face to the monument!"

A person ran in the direction of the yelling

"Naruto, that you?" Some one called.

She turned and looked down. Standing on the ground near Jiraiya was a highly familiar person. Her teammate, Umehito.

"Oh my god" she jumped down. "It's been so long!"

Umehito was still a bean-pole, she noted. His hair was still in his usual ponytail but a few inches longer. Now he wore a chunin vest over his blue shirt and gray pants. He grinned with one of his sharky smiles he saved for a select group of people. "I agree, Naruto. When did you get back?"

"Just now actually" she beamed. She poked his vest. "I see you made chunin. What happened to Sasuke? Let me guess he's eating a tomato and brooding?"

Someone smacked her upside the head. "Hn. You wish, airhead."

"So your still a jerk." she said rubbing her looked back and fourth from the two of them. "You ass hats are still taller then me? What the royal hell!"

The two of them laughed. Umehito patted her head. "Don't think of yourself as short. Think of yourself as portable."

"I'm going to kill you" she said darkly. She folded her arms and pouted.

"If you don't stop pouting we won't say what happened to Obito and I" Sasuke said with a small smirk.

"What happened to you and Obito, dattebayo?" Naruto asked

"Well as of four weeks ago I am the official Uchiha Clan Head." Sasuke said smirking slightly. "Father retired and now Obito is back with the clan."

Umehito grinned. "He's also a Jounin sensei. His genin are Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon."

Naruto grinned. "My Otouto a genin? Man I feel old, 'ttebayo"

"Your fifteen and a half kid." Jiraiya said grinding his knuckles into her scalp. "Don't talk to me about being old"

"Damnit sensei" Naruto muttered nursing her head. "That hurts ya know"

Jiraiya ignored her and turned to Umehito. "How's Tsunade doing?"

"Tsunade-sama is fine." Umehito said. He smiled nervously "I think she's past trying to kill me and passing it off as training."

Jiraiya laughed. "I think she's decided that she likes you"

Umehito chuckled and sweat dropped. "I don't know weather to be shocked and flattered, or shocked and disturbed."

"both is good."

"How has your training been going?" Jiraiya asked Sasuke.

Sasuke shrugged. "Anko recently helped me complete the summoning contract with the Snakes, and is showing me different ways to use them in combat."

Jiraiya nodded thoughtfully. "Just be careful around those guys. They're seriously shifty"

"I can handle it" Sasuke said with a shrug.

Naruto looked anxiously toward the Hokage Tower. "If you want to go see Baa-chan, you should. I really want to see my dad..."

Jiraiya chuckled and ruffled her hair. He looked toward Sasuke and Umehito. "If you gentlemen would excuse us-"

"Jiraiya-sama" Sasuke cut in. "Naruto's gone"

True enough the spot that had been previously occupied by his orange-clad protege was empty.

"I knew I'd regret helping her perfect the Hirashin..." Jiraiya muttered bitterly.

...:::*Meanwhile*:::...

Minato scribbled his name on the last sheet of paperwork. He sighed and slumped into his chair.

He loved that chair to death. He'd had it brought in from his study at home when he'd been named Hokage. It was the same chair he'd hold Naruto when she was a baby and he was avoiding paper work. It was almost like an old friend. It was understanding, calming, and...

The Yondaime chuckled humorlessly. It was a telltale sign you were being over worked when you talked about a chair like that.

Someone landed with a thud and several curses. Minato peered over the edge of his desk, more curious than anything else. He doubted that the ANBU who practically lived in the rooms shadow would have sat by if the person was a threat.

There was a flash of blond and orange and a teenager with big blue eyes and whisker like birthmarks on her face stood up in front of the desk. Her face split into a broad grin. "Hi Dad"

"Naruto?" he practically whispered.

Naruto ran around the desk and hugged Minato tightly. "I missed you so much, Daddy..."

Minato kissed her head. "I missed you too, sweet heart"

Jiraiya jumped through the window. "And what of your dear old sensei, huh?"

Naruto lifted her head from Minato's shoulder. "Get your ass over here and stop sulking."

Jiraiya walked over and soon he was involved in a full fledged group hug.


	25. the sand genin

Naruto was looking for Konohamaru, Udon, and Moegi. She smirked inwardly at how they were getting better at hiding their presence.

She never thought she'd miss playing 'Ninja' with her Otouto as much as she had. So when her latest D-rank had finished and he asked her to play with him and his friends, how could she refuse?

"Naruto!" Moegi and Udon practically wailed.

"Your supposed to be hiding!" Naruto chided. She saw how upset they were. "What happened? Is everything okay?"

"It's Konohamaru" Moegi cried. "He's in trouble!"

"Where?" Naruto demanded.

Udon grabbed her sleeve and the three of them ran off.

When they found Konohamaru he was being held in the air by his shirt. The boy was dressed in all black and had purple paint on his face. Naruto guessed he wasn't from here. Konohamaru whimpered.

"Put him down!" Naruto demanded.

The boy with face paint chuckled. He tightened his grip and Konohamaru yelped. "Does that hurt, punk?"

"Kankuro, just put the brat down" A girl with four pigtails and a fan said in an annoyed voice. "You know you'll pay for it later."

"Aw c'mon, Temari, we've got a few minutes before he gets here, lets mess with them" Kankuro said with a smirk.

"Put me down!" Konohamaru said kicking.

"Your feisty." Kankuro smiled again. "But not for long."

"I'm going to kill you!" Naruto yelled. "Put him down right now or I take you apart, dattebayo!"

"I'd like to see a wimp like you try, jaa"

Naruto pulled a three pronged kunai and threw it at him. He sidestepped and it stuck into the ground just behind him.

"You Konoha ninja really are a joke." Kankuro laughed. "You missed at that close range."

"I don't think I did, dattebayo"

Naruto's voice was now directly behind him. The girl with pigtails gasped. "How did you-"

"It's something known to only a select few Konoha Shinobi. Still think I'm a joke?" Naruto said with venom, holding a normal kunai in her hand. She lifted it "Now I'm only going to say this one more time. Put. My. Otouto. Down. Now"

Konohamaru hit the ground. Kankuro turned. "I think I'm going to play around with you now. You could bee a fun challenge, jaa"

"Challenge" Naruto scoffed. She drew herself up to her full not so impressive height, and put her hands on her hips. "I'll pound you into the ground. But don't worry I'll leave your ugly ass recognizable for your family's sake"

"Why you-" He pulled his hand back and Naruto dropped into a stance. Something small and hard collided with his arm, right on the patch of skin his outfit didn't cover. He winced "what the hell?"

Naruto's teammate sat in a tree bouncing a stone up and down in his hand. "I know she's an annoying airhead, but I'm not going to let you touch her."

"Damn it, Sasuke!" Naruto yelled indignantly, stamping her foot for emphasis. "I was about to kick him into next week!"

"Idiot" Sasuke muttered crushing the rock in his fist, and dropping himself out of the tree. "As for you two, your clearly not from here, yet your picking fights with citizens of Konoha. Not very smart are you?"

Kankuro reached for the bandaged thing on his back.

"Kankuro." A different voice spoke. "You are a disgrace to our village."

Kankuro suddenly looked highly nervous. "Oh hey Gaara"

There was a boy standing upside down on a tree branch. He had pale skin, messy red hair, and on his back wore a large gourd? He couldn't have been much older than Naruto, yet this Kankuro guy was clearly intimidated.

"Have you forgotten why we're here?" Gaara asked.

"I-I know." Kankuro stammered. "It's just these Konoha brats they-"

Shut up" Gaara hissed. "Or I'll kill you"

"Right" Kankuro said holding his hands out in a placating gesture "I was totally out of line, sorry Gaara"

"I apologize for my brother's idiocy" He stated flatly.

Gaara vanished and reappeared before them in a flurry of sand. He turned so he was facing away from Naruto.

"Let's go, we didn't come to play games." Gaara said walking away.

"Hey! Identify your selves" Sasuke demanded.

"Who, me?" Temari asked with a big grin and a blush. Naruto rolled her eyes. Not another one...

"No." Sasuke said "The one with the gourd."

"I am Sabaku no Gaara" He turned so his eyes were directly on Naruto. "I am curious as to who you are."

Naruto crossed her arms over her chest. "Naruto Namikaze, dattebayo."

Temari gasped. "Namikaze? You mean like the Fellow Flash?"

Naruto smirked and tossed some hair off of her face. She loved it when people said she was like her father, talent wise. "Something like that"

"You've piqued Mother's interest" Gaara said flatly. "We'll meet again, Naruto Namikaze."

With that he walked away leaving some very confused kids in his wake. Naruto looked over at Konohamaru "Are you okay?"

"Okay?" He said incredulously. A grin spread over his face and he glomped her. "I've got the coolest Nee-chan ever!"

Naruto patted his head. "Don't forget it, kid"


	26. Your dream lives on in her

Guess which episode I just watched :D

I actually really wanted to write this scene but forgot to ^^;

* * *

"So your going to be the Godaime?" Naruto said. Tsunade smirked and nodded "Man I'm out of it for a few hours and wake up to this, ttebayo."

"Is that a problem, kid?" Jiraiya asked tilting his head to the side.

" I still wish you could have been Hokage" Naruto pouted slightly. "and even if not I was just thinking, shouldn't the Hokage be kind and wise? Y'know like my dad. She's...well she's mean and greedy!"

Tsunade's eye twitched. Naruto wasn't done.

"I mean she's got a nasty temper and she's not all that smart." Naruto put her hands behind her head. "It's just that it's a big job and I don't know if she's up to it."

"Yes...well how about we pay for the food?" Shizune suggested with a nervous laugh.

"And she's an old woman using jutsu to make herself look like a young lady." Naruto said with a wave of her hand. "that's kinda shifty, dontcha think?"

Tsunade slammed her hands into the table and got in Naruto's face. "You wanna take this outside, brat?!"

"Bring it, baa-chan" Naruto said with a smirk.

Jiraiya sighed and Shizune watched in horror.

Minutes later the two kunoichi's stood opposite each other.

"I may not be anyone's idea of perfect, and now that I'm Hokage I shouldn't dirty my hands on a pipsqueak like you. However" Tsunade then smirked and brandished her index finger. "One finger is all I'm going to need"

"Like hell I'd let that happen again" Naruto said putting a hand on her hip. "And stop calling me pipsqueak! I may be just a kid right now, but I'm going to be Hokage myself some day!"

Tsunade looked nostalgic for a moment, but snapped out of it when Naruto charged at her with a retracted fist.

The older woman fluidly ducked under her fist and then popped back up, knocking Naruto's forehead protector off with a finger.

Naruto shut her eyes when she saw Tsunade's hand fly out looking as though she was going to flick her in the head. _'not again!'_

Then much to the girls surprise, she felt a hand under her chin, tipping her head upwards slightly. Then lips made contact with her forehead.

Naruto's eyes snapped open in surprise. Tsunade just smiled and set her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "You'll grow up into a remarkable woman, Naruto. And a great Hokage too."

Naruto was too surprised to respond. When this faded she grinned brightly. "You bet, ttebayo!"

"C'mon you guys" Jiraiya said with a grin. "Let's head home"

Naruto ran up next to him. "Can you give me a piggy-back ride, sensei? Please?"

Jiraiya poked her in the side of the head. (a certain Uchiha sneezed). "You've got two perfectly good legs. Use them!"

"But senseeeei" she whined, tugging on his arm.

"No!"

"I could tell my dad about you shoving me off a cliff, right before the chunin exams" Naruto threatened.

Jiraiya looked at his goddaughter, who was smiling up at him sweetly. He growled and turned his back to her. "Get on, brat"

"Your the best, Jiji!" Naruto said wrapping her arms around his shoulders as he hooked his arms under her legs.

Tsunade smiled to herself, utterly amused. Then she noticed that one of Naruto's hands was turning the crystal on the necklace over and over in her hand.

Tsunade looked at the sky with a smile on her face.

_'Do you see her, Nawaki? Dan?...Be at peace my beloveds, your dreams live on. With her'_


End file.
